The current economic difficulties should not be used as a justification for raising prices in order to achieve high profit margins, the president of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has urged business people.

As the nation goes through a challenging time, he urged that the traders should be on the lookout for the larger welfare of society.

In his Sunday, October 30 speech to the nation on the economy, the president acknowledged that traders have raised product prices as a result of recent price volatility but advised them to avoid trying to make money off the economic downturn.

“I hear from the market queens also that another factor fueling the high prices is the high margins that some traders are slapping on goods, for fear of future higher costs. I say to our traders, we are all in this together. Please let us be measured in the margins we seek.

“I have great respect and admiration for the ingenuity and hard work of our traders, especially those that take on the distribution of foodstuffs around the country, and I would hesitate to join in calling them names. I do make a heartfelt appeal that we all keep an eye out for the greater good, and not try to make the utmost profits out of the current difficulties,” Akufo-Addo said.

In recent times, prices of goods such as rice, cooking oil, and other essentials have skyrocketed with many Ghanaians lamenting the hikes.

The Ghana Statistical Service pegged the country’s inflation rate for the month of September at 37.2%, from 33.9% in August. According to the data, food inflation for the month of September was 37.8%.

Akufo-Addo in his address admitted that the country was in crisis while rallying support for various government interventions to stem the tide.

“We are in a crisis, I do not exaggerate when I say so. I cannot find an example in history when so many malevolent forces have come together at the same time.

“But, as we have shown in other circumstances, we shall turn this crisis into an opportunity to resolve not just the short-term, urgent problems, but the long-term structural problems that have bedeviled our economy,” he said.