Cost of living
The face of precariousness and injustice in Benin
Dear comrades, dear fellow citizens
By agreeing to meet here this morning, at the invitation of CSA-Benin, you show that you understand the role of a trade union organization in the march of a country towards a brighter future. The union challenges, draws attention, denounces, protests, threatens, then also proposes when given the opportunity. It is all this together that we came to do here this morning. We have come to remind the government that life is always more expensive. We have come to denounce his silence and his contempt in the face of the people’s cries of distress. We came to protest against the risky choice he made not to respect his own commitments. We have come to draw their attention and that of public opinion to the risks of losing social cohesion.
Last February, all the trade union organizations had demonstrated, on the basis of official figures produced by the INStAD, the exponential rate of inflation since 2016. The government’s only response had been to organize a tour of chimerical explanation to tell the people that nothing depended on him, that he had fully played his part and that ultimately the fault was either covid-19, or the conflict in Ukraine, or both together.
Dear comrades, the debate on the responsibility of governments in the causes of the high cost of living and the individual malaise of Beninese has become a futile debate in the face of the pangs of inflation and the decline in purchasing power. I would like to invite you to concede to the government that the reforms, the new tax code, customs duties, the suspension of subsidy measures for certain products have had no impact on the deterioration of the quality of life of the people of Benin. Let us acknowledge the government’s innocence in what is happening to us and draw its attention to the role of government in times of crisis. But before this exercise, it is interesting to draw the ministers’ attention to the development of the situation since the meeting in April 2022 at the Palace of the Presidency.
And to do this, we still use the own figures of public statistics collection bodies in Benin.
Dear comrades, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index for the month of July 2022 (IHPC) presented by INStAD recorded an increase in inflation of almost two points in one month between June and July 2022.
Even more edifying are INStAD’s own comments, which I quote in full:
The monthly increase in the index is mainly attributable to the increase in the prices of goods in the “Food products and non-alcoholic beverages” function (+1.6%).
The main product groups whose prices contributed to this increase are: “Oils” (+17.3%), linked to the increase in the price of palm oil from artisanal production due to the scarcity of palm nuts .
“Fish and other dried or smoked products” (+6.3%), due to the rainy season which is not favorable for fishing;
Tubers and plantain” (+4.7%), due to the scarcity of yams and potatoes;
“Salt and spices” (+4.2%), linked to the drop in the supply of fresh peppers due to seasonality
Also in this publication on the INStAD website, there is the summary table of the evolution of the price of grouped food products in three months (period May-July 2022)
•Oils: 44.4%
•Sels et condiments 5%
• Articles of clothing and footwear 2%
•Electricity gas and combustibles, 5%
As we can see, the official figures confirm the deterioration of the purchasing power of the populations of Benin. And we have not yet used the prices encountered on the markets, which are quite often far from these watered-down official statistics.
To be complete, it is also useful to recall Benin’s economic performance, which has made our government so proud since 2016, to the point that when referring to that of 2021, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Romuald Wadagni, hailed a ” one of the highest levels of growth in Africa”. Here too the figures on the rate of growth of the GDP give ample reason to the ministerial authority.
From 3.3% in 2016, the growth rate increased to 5.7% in 2017, 6.7% in 2018; 6.9% in 2019 and 7.2% in 2021. The only drop over the period occurred in 2020 when the rate was 3.8%. That is a cumulative growth of 33.6% in 6 years of the power of rupture. In other words, the Beninese, from the most insignificant to the most prominent, have produced wealth. Beninese are gradually becoming model citizens in terms of paying taxes because over the same period, internal revenue collected increased from 745.7 billion in 2026 to 944.4 billion in 2017, 1028.6 billion in 2018, 1088.0 billion in 2019
Faced with all that has been described above, should we not legitimately ask certain questions to the government, namely:
1. Does the sharing of the fruits of the common effort concern only the members of the state apparatus?
2. Why were the economic and social measures announced last March for a limited period of three months not renewed?
3. Where are the devices and agents supposedly deployed by the Ministry of Commerce to exercise price control in the markets?
4. In the name of what market logic, should the price of cement be differentiated according to the departments?
5. What is blocking on today’s date, the taking and publication of the decree which consecrates the increase of the SMIG?
6. Doesn’t the high cost of living situation call for this minimum effort on the part of the government to accede to the grievances of the trade union organizations in favor of the AMEs?
Dear comrades, it must be recognized, in all honesty, that the government has imposed rigor in the management of public finances. But that alone cannot explain the good face of our economy. Yes, we have suffered, yes, we complain about the harshness of the reforms, but the government must recognize that we are all co-authors of our country’s fine economic and budgetary performance.
You should not be surprised that I say that the country is doing better economically. I am only relaying the words of the experts, of the international financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s, recognized and celebrated by the government itself. I quote: “The international financial rating agency Standard & Poor’s maintained the B+ rating assigned to the Republic of Benin in 2022, with a stable outlook. This decision attests to the quality of the country’s economic fundamentals, and its resilience in the face of the Covid-19 crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war. »
I continue to quote: “Standard & Poor’s highlights in particular the solid growth prospects, driven by the government’s ambitious reforms, despite a deteriorating global economic environment. Indeed, after preserving the dynamism of its economy in 2020, with growth of 3.9% according to Standard & Poor’s, Benin recorded a very marked economic recovery in 2021, at +7.2%, i.e. one of the of the best performance in the region. Growth should remain at a high level in the medium term, and reach 6.3% on average over the period 2023-2025, despite the Russian-Ukrainian war to which Benin’s direct exposure is considered limited. »
Under these conditions, how can we not have difficulty explaining the silence and the arguments of the government when the social demands of Beninese men and women are expressed.
How can we understand that the government is content to announce a conditional increase for the month of November and then refuses to examine the obvious social emergencies.
Why are we still paying the SMIG at 40,000 FCFA even though for more than five months, an agreement has been concluded between employers, workers and governments to raise it to 52,000 FCFA.
How not to feel revolted by the volte-face and the internal contradictions of the government on the situation of the AMEs maintained in destitution with always 9 months out of 12 of income.
How not to express our perplexity when around us, countries that we look down on, find the means to sympathize with the sufferings of their populations while we sink into the delay.
Dear comrades, I would like to recall once again the objectives of this trade union demonstration:
1. Remind the government and President Patrice TALON of what they know so well, namely that the high cost of living in Benin has not disappeared and that, on the contrary, inflation at all levels is getting worse.
2. Denounce the silence of the government in the face of the cries of distress of the most vulnerable layers
3. Protest against the obvious use of the November deadline as a scarecrow that relieves the government of the examination of other social emergencies such as price controls, the publication of the decree relating to the SMIG, the question of the hierarchy of salaries , the extension of the duration of the contract signed with the AMEs, etc…
4. Demand the continuation of negotiations in view of the committee’s examination of the proposals relating to salary and pension increases expected for the month of November 2022.
5. Maintain the mobilization of workers and the necessary citizen watch.
The high cost of living is far from inevitable! The government has an obligation to effectively ensure individual and collective well-being. This requires respect for commitments, efforts for social appeasement without which no development is possible. This also and above all involves the equitable sharing of the prosperity induced by the common effort.
The quest for inclusive social dialogue is not a weakness!
Contempt for workers’ representatives is not a quality!
Shared prosperity is an act of good governance!
Dear comrades, the official discourse of the Beninese government to explain the non-respect of the commitment relating to the social mandate is no longer credible. Let’s take our responsibilities and make ourselves heard.
Cotonou, August 26, 2022