This
was supposed to be the year Jayde Koen and her generation would finally be able
to start living a better life.
She
was 9 years old when the country's first democratic election ended White
minority rule in 1994, as a mixed-race South African in Cape Town. Koen was the
first in her family to go to college and then practice law. She married and
worked hard with her husband to construct a middle-class existence for their
family, which included three children, a home, and two automobiles.
Her
family is currently battling to stay up. As global supply systems shut down,
the covid-19 epidemic that initially hit South Africa in early 2020 resulted in
severe lockdowns, record unemployment, and economic dysfunction. Fuel costs and
the cost of daily commodities like wheat, barley, and sunflower oil have risen
as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine this year.
Stories
like Koen's can be found all across the world, but the issue is particularly
severe in Sub-Saharan Africa, where inflation is at its highest level since the
global financial crisis of 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Families already on the verge of poverty are sliding further behind, while many
who had previously been part of the region's fast-growing middle class are
falling behind.
Koen's
savings have been slowly decreasing over the years. Her husband, who works in
the auto business, has not received a pay raise since the outbreak began. His
earnings from his weekend work repairing vehicles used to go toward family
trips and vacations; now they go toward groceries.
“We’re
just pushing through,” Koen said, “hoping we can breathe again soon.”
She's
cooking less to save energy — electricity bills are up 14% year over year — and
attempting to produce enough food to last several days each time. With gas
prices in South Africa up nearly 30% year on year, Koen has traded in her car
for a smaller, more fuel-efficient model and now commutes twice a week outside
of rush hour.
Africans
saw extraordinary upward mobility at the advent of the twenty-first century.
According to the African Development Bank, the continent's middle class had
tripled in three decades to 313 million individuals, accounting for more than
34% of the population at the time. Years of strong economic growth allowed many
people to transition away from traditional agriculture to more stable, salaried
jobs.
From
South Africa to West Africa, that stability is now threatened by the lingering
impacts of a global health crisis and galloping inflation.
Senegal
was forced to close its borders during the pandemic and suffered a massive loss
of tourism revenue. Exploration on new oil and gas fields, which was supposed
to help power the country’s economic future, was delayed.
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