More than 80% of us think cost of food has gone up during pandemic

Nearly 81% of South African believe that the price of food and other necessities has gone up since the coronavirus outbreak commenced.

A study by market research company Ipsos, released on Friday 3 July, found that 84% of women and 77% of men said the overall cost of necessities has increased over the last few months.

Older South Africans feel the increases more keenly

When looking at the different age groups, older people are more keenly feeling these cost increases. A total of 87% of those 50 years and older said that costs have increased ‘a lot’ or ‘somewhat’. Eighty-three percent of those aged 25-49 said the same thing.

When it comes to other items that South Africans believe have increased, 60% said they thought that utilities (water, electricity and refuse removal) and phone, TV and Internet services have gone up.

Questioned on the costs of healthcare, 40% of South Africans said these had gone up, while the majority (55%) said costs had stayed the same.

But many prices have also remained unchanged, consumers say

More than a third (36%) of South Africans believed that the cost of personal care and beauty has gone up, while 48% though that prices have remained unchanged during the outbreak.

At the other end of the scale, 85% of people in the country believe that the cosy of insurance has either come down or remained unchanged.

Similarly, almost 85% were of the opinion that housing costs (rent, mortgage or home loan) are either lower than before the pandemic, or have remained unchanged.

Survey covered 18 000 people in 26 countries

The survey took in 26 countries and was conducted via online poll between May 22 and June 5.

Three in five people (60%) out of nearly 18 000 international respondents to the survey said their costs have increased ‘somewhat’ or ‘a lot’.

At the top of the list of consumers who believe they are experiencing cost increases are those in Argentina, South Africa and Mexico (81%). Next was Turkey (80%). Then Chile and Belgium (79%).