Necessities

A few weeks ago the government capped the price of beer, soft drinks, gas, bananas and other necessity items. (Yes, beer is a necessity item. Wine apparently is not because, “only ferenjis drink wine”.) Beers which used to cost up to 20 birr in restaurants has been set at 7, soft drinks have reduced from 12 to 4.50 and bananas have gone from 7 a kilo to 5. Not huge differences, but brought about partially we are told, by restaurants stock piling bottled drinks and other necessity items and holding on to them through inflation. Surprisingly, because of this new law, the police presence has sky rocked beyond any other country I have ever visited. The rule is being actively enforced and businesses that refuse to conform are being shut down at a rapid pace. On Wednesday, I was at a restaurant taking advantage of the free internet over dinner as we so often do. When we received our bill, we noticed Ambo (part of the crackdown) was still 14 birr. We paid, but shortly after were approached by a police officer and informed that we must leave immediately due to unrest in the restaurant. It wasn’t until later that we put two and two together. On my walk home today, police lined the streets (more than usual) and as we passed the main corner near our office, we saw crowds of people and police surrounding a store as the windows were boarded up with metal siding. The rule makes sense to me. In a country where so many people struggle for the means to feed themselves and inflation is causing prices to rise fast, I am glad to see the government actively combating the stocking piling of goods. For restaurants to purchase items at lower prices and then hold on to them through inflation means they can gouge the consumer even more. Keeping the prices down keeps the consumption up which keep jobs and economy going. As a friend stated the other day, keep the beer cheap and he will drink at the bar all night, raise the price and he will drink at home first for free.