High Cost of Living

Vaseline Cocoa Butter for $26.8 GH cedis ($16 Canadian/ $14 USD)
Olay Quench for $44.85 GHcedis ($28 Canadian / $24 USD)

One of my biggest shocks on my trip back to Ghana has been the high cost of living.  I went into the local shop to purchase some body lotion to discover it's at a very high cost.  Many things I found were like this.  Mainly due to items being imported and the currency made a change about four years ago.  Locally made products are becoming less as people demand to have products from America and the U.K.  Today I walked by a place that had a sign saying "Exclusive items from America; Costco, Sam's Club and Wal-Mart products sold here".

I wonder how some of the locals even make it with a wage that's not the best.  

Foreigners who come into the country are given better opportunities to earn much more money.  A person who comes from outside the country will often earn $US dollars and will be given an allowance for a home and a car to drive.  They refer to these as Expat contracts.  Often larger companies in industries like oil, energy, computers, banking, education etc. will offer these to employees.

  

When it came to the cost of things being high, I did notice that there is something that is still cheap. Wigs and hair pieces. SO cheap.  

Wigs/Hair cost $4.50 GH cedis (2.90 Canadian / $2.43 US)