By Hassan I. Conteh

As the Holy month of Ramadan bids farewell to Muslims around the world, exorbitant prices on loaves of bread will surely remain the same for bread consumers in Sierra Leone.

This year’s fasting has sent Islamic worshippers close to their graveyards as producers of bread surprisingly increased prices on pieces of bread.

Unlike other fasting periods when prices on loaves of bread never went up dramatically, this year’s season is different altogether.

While a price for a cup of sugar remains the same like it was a month ago before fasting enters, bread sellers inflate prices on loaves throughout the Ramadan (Muslims’ Holy month of fasting to cleanse their sins).

The different sizes of the bread attract additional cost. The medium sizes of bread each jump past a cup of rice which now costs Le 4.

Street bread sellers say they are buying the quantity from suppliers at a huge price than in the past few months before The Holy month of Ramadan.

Sheik Mohamed Bundu, one of the imams at Leicester Road community in Freetown, says he prefers breaking the fast with just empty tea to venturing a piece of bread whose price doesn’t meet his pocket.

A small-sized bread which was sold Le 2 now costs four Leone; the ones which used to be sold Le 3 are increased to Le 5, 6 and 7; while the biggest size in the market costs consumers Le 10 each.

Such prices will continue to rise as the local currency erodes value behind the US dollars. It is expected that the dollar will continue to rise unabated as measures to keeping it down fail.

By June, Sierra Leoneans may start buying a bag of flour around Le 1,500,000, causing prices on loaves of bread to soar.

Muslims like Sheik Bundu don’t enjoy eating bread throughout this year’s fasting due to the increasing cost on it.

Consumers of bread, all over in Sierra Leone, not only Muslims, are grumbling now over the soaring cost of the commodity.

Given his reaction on the sad situation, a bakery owner at Kissy Town, Waterloo, Amadu Jalloh, says inflation is creeping on flour, yeasts and other ingredients they use.

He said they are currently buying a bag of flour over Le 1, 200,000 (about US $ 65) as per the old currency.

“Before fasting ticks, we had been receiving huge leftovers from our customers; they would say selling is stiff, now fasting people  buy bread than before  but most times sellers will bring us cold bread,’’ Jalloh explains.

In the face of growing inflation in the country, prices on every commodity are going up more than expected.

Consumers of bread have been buying each boiled egg at Le 5.

Asked about how he copes with the situation, a favourite bread eater sounds unhappy over the increasing cost on eggs and bread sold by night-tea sellers.