Not since the oil crisis of the 1970s has inflation dominated political talk as much as it does today. Workers from the poorest to the richest countries are feeling the pinch.
The story has been the same in the US where prices are running at more than 40-year highs. The cost-of-living crisis has led to protests, from the UK to Chile. In the poorest countries in Africa and elsewhere, rising fuel and food prices risk leading to mass starvation and hunger. Governments may all be in the same boat but, as with the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, their ability to respond isn’t uniform. For a troubled leader of a wealthy country such as the UK’s Boris Johnson, the call for action might have even come as a godsend. Instead of talking about the prime minister breaking his own Covid-19 rules, the press was last week occupied instead by a £15bn relief package, including rebates on energy bills.
It was two months ago that SA also offered to help hard-pressed people, announcing a reduction in the fuel levy that would cost R6bn in forsaken revenue. When government announced the relief — which has been extended to early August at a cost of R4.5bn — soaring oil prices had increased the cost of petrol locally to a record of just under R22/Ministers probably counted on a quick end to the conflict that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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