Dropping Dalasi Faces More Serious Snub Landlords Lean On the Dollar
The Independent (Banjul)
November 15, 2002
Posted to the web November 15, 2002
Olufemi Jr.
Banjul
The free-fall of the dalasi, which cannot be arrested amid the economic
gridlock, is being aggravated with landlords in local business districts
collecting rents from tenants in Dollars.
Potential businessmen, who cannot pay in hard currency, now, find the
landlord's leaning on the dollar seriously off-putting.
Talking to The Independent, Abdou Sarge, a victim of the Dollar-for-rent,
lamented that he is still without a shop because shop owners are unwilling
to accept the dalasi as legal tender due to its deteriorating value, which
has faced its worst downturn in 2002. 'I have plans for a business that
would employ a dozen Gambians. How can I start when I can't pay in Dollars'
he queried, calling on the government to step in and 'save the Dalasi from
going to the dogs.'
Sarge added that if the situation remains unchanged, he would leave the
country.
A tenant along Kairaba Avenue, who requested anonymity for fear of incurring
his landlord's wrath, tagged the situation a 'helpless one.
'You either pay or you go shop-less' he said.
Abdoulie Touray the President of The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry
[GCCI] pointed out; 'we are a free market economy; the Dalasi is a
free-floating currency while the Dollar is an international currency. If one
cannot pay in Dollars as required by a landlord, one should move onto
someone with whom one can do business.'
He blamed the depreciation of the local currency on the fact that The Gambia
imports far more than she exports.
For Principal GCCI Economist, Mam Cherno Jallow, the situation is
'abnormal.' He stressed that the Dollar should not be used because the
Dalasi exist as the legal tender. 'Otherwise, we would run the risk of a
dollarized economy, because people would lose faith in the Dalasi, thus
making it a secondary paper' he warned.
However, some landlords have decried the high cost of building materials,
which propelled them to go for the Dollar. 'I pay for my shop in Banjul in
Dollars. So why should I not charge Dollars for my shop along Kairaba
Avenue' he retorted.
The CEO of Cityscape Estate Agency threw his weight behind the obsession for
the Dollar. 'There is nothing wrong in charging $300 for a rent of D6000' he
argued.
However, Alhagi Jobe, the Assistant General Manager for Finance and
Development of the FIB, maintained that the situation has no justification.
'If a house is built using imported materials, it is not necessary to ask
for dollars' he said.
Meanwhile, The Independent has evidence that some Gambian lawyers have been
touched by the dollar fever. They have shunned the local currency,
preferring instead to be paid in dollars by their clients.
Adding his voice to the lot, The Independent's managing editor, Alagi Yorro
Jallow, said it was the injurious effects of the Dollar fever that compelled
the bi-weekly paper to move house from its Kairaba Avenue location. 'We were
paying in Dalasis for the first two years but in the third year, the
landlord requested to be paid in Dollars, which was beyond us' Jallow
explained.
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