By: Lamin K Saidy Fatajo
What is excessive pricing? This is when goods and services are priced higher than the competitive price.
We must all be watchdogs; The Gambia, for example, is a free market economy. I believe some of us studied economics as a subject in high school or university, and one of the characteristics of this type of economic system is survival of the fittest; the stronger ones will continue to live and be successful while the weaker ones die or fail. When the prices of goods are very high, no matter what, some will be able to afford them, while others won’t.
Price control is not the solution in such economic situations, as many people deem it. The solution is competition.
What is competition? It is a situation in the market in which sellers of a product or service independently strive for buyers’ patronage to maximize profits, sales, and market share.
Competition improves economic efficiency and thereby enhances consumer welfare.
I am writing this to help us, the youths, be more price-sensitive and consumer welfare-oriented. Business people are only interested in selling to maximize financial profit. I’m not saying when there is a monopoly, which, let’s say, in a market, there’s only one seller of goods or services, and you don’t have an option but to buy from them. If there are three or more sellers in a market, try as a consumer to know how much they sell their goods or services.
The moment there’s dia fference in prices, they’re competitors, . If the is selling higher than the others, solve the problem by not complaining, rather boycotting the seller for another seller and deliberately passing them to let the seller know that the prices they charge are are. As a rational consumer, you prefer to buy from a seller who sells cheaper.
No one will tell such sellers to cut their profit to sell at the market price.
We have businessmen in the market who are always exploiting consumers, Weave no control over that i;t’s their business b, ut we have control over our money a, nd we must be prprice-sensitiveo make rational decisions.
Recently, we have all seen how Qcell and Africell reduced their data tariffs just because Comium came with the unbelievable to many! wiWithoutompetition, we would have been dying by now. However, it all depends on the cost and other factors of production because there are some charges, but they offer better quality goods and services, so they can’t be blamed for that.
Gamcel was enjoying the same thing before the coming of Africa. How much was a Gamcel sim before and after Africa entered the market? Huge difference, right?
Also, the coming wave in fintech has forced companies like S, Yonna, etc. do more in terms of hiring and providing better services.
I feel glad to see how young people have been employed to do marketing for these fintech companies since they started; now, they’re all doing well. The world is evolving, and we’re in the digital era, Thingsust change for the betterment of everyone.
In conclusion, price control is not the idea that occurs in The Gambia. I bet essential commodities we are complaining of being expensive will not end up of available in the market, and their scarcity will further lead to a price increment worse than we have.
Lamin K Saidy Fatajo
Bsc. International Economics and Trade. Master’s student in Public Policy, Peking University, Beijing, China.
