In Pikine, on a Tuesday morning after heavy rain, women strive to prepare lunch despite the dizzying rise in prices. Diary, a regular at a stall a few meters from her home, deplores that a kilogram of onion now costs 900 CFA francs, while that of potatoes reaches 1,000 francs. “It’s not just these foodstuffs that have increased, everything has become expensive,” she regrets.
Another customer, met on the way to the Zinc market, confirms this reality. “Vegetables, meat, fish, everything is overpriced. To have a simple carrot or a small cabbage, you have to pay 200 to 300 francs,” she adds, frustrated at not having found any reduction after having visited several stalls.
The saleswomen themselves struggle to attract customers. Fatou, installed behind her well-stocked vegetable stall, is still desperately waiting for buyers. “Everything is expensive, people don’t have money,” she laments. Another saleswoman, more optimistic, hopes that customers will come later, but also recognizes the difficulty of the situation.
However, the contrast is striking among onion sellers, like Diallo, who peels and prepares bags of onion slices for the many women waiting in front of his stall. “Even if it’s expensive, we buy, because there are no other solutions,” explains a customer, also referring to the rise in prices of meat and fish, essential for preparing a good “Thiebou dieune” .
The price of a kilogram of beef has exceeded 4,000 francs, and it costs between 2,500 and 3,000 francs for quality fish. However, last June, the authorities promised to make the fight against the high cost of living an “urgent priority”. Although reductions have been noted in sugar, rice, oil and bread, these measures are proving insufficient in the face of galloping inflation which is suffocating households.
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