The income of 77.4 percent of Ghanaian households have decreased as a result of the impact of Covid-19 restrictions, the Household and Jobs Tracker Survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Services has revealed.
This means households’ income of approximately 22 million Ghanaians has reduced due to the impact of the Covid-19 restrictions, the survey has reported.
According to the survey, families who are relying on non-farm income-generating activities were severely affected.
The Government Statistician, Prof Kwabena Annum, who was speaking to the results of the survey, said households in the Greater Accra Region recorded the least 72 percent reduction in income whereas North East, Upper West and Bono Regions, recorded the highest reduction in income 81.1 percent, 83 percent and 83.1 percent respectively.
He said the study revealed that 52.1 percent of Ghanaian households reduced food consumption to cope with the effects of the restrictions, adding that prices of food items short-up which further increased the hardships of the households.
He added that 15.9 percent of households reported that they were not able to buy staple food such as plantain during the period of the survey (June 3-19, 2020).
He said 21.1 percent of households in Ghana reported that they did not have access to water despite the government’s intervention of free water supply to mitigate the impact of the virus and the restrictions.
Prof Annim said the effect of Covid-19 on education remains a major challenge to most households, adding that the closure of schools has led to 35 percent of primary and Junior High School (JHS) pupils and 28 percent of Senior High School (SHS) students staying at home without engaging in any form of learning.
He added that the biggest challenge faced by these students was the lack of basic tools such as computers or smartphones to aid learning at home.
“25.6 percent of basic school children and 32.7 percent of SHS students did not have access to these devices”, he said.
He hinted that 96.1 percent of primary and JHS pupils and 98.3 percent of SHS students were likely to return to school once the restrictions were eased and schools reopen.
He said the government could use the findings of the survey to guide the directions of its mitigation measures to reduce the impact of the virus and also assess the performance of its COVID-19 interventions.
The GSS, he said, intends to conduct at least three more of this survey before the year ends.
The country representative of UNICEF, Mrs Anne-Claire Dufay, on her part, said the survey was important because it has revealed the effects of the virus on children and education.
She added that the study has also shown that the burden on poor families has increased which calls for the need to expand social intervention measures such as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
Ishmael Batoma, ISD
