Inflation is a serious harshness on the citizens of any nation whose economy is suffering from. It brings untold hardship on the citizens. It batters the economy woefully. It increases the poverty index of such nation. The effects of inflation is not what a developing economy should wish for.
SOME CONSEQUENCES OF INFLATION
Where there is inflation the masses suffers. There will be limited access to essential amenities. This is because prices of goods and services will be exorbitant. When this happens the cost of living will be out of reach of the poor masses. Even the average income earners will hardly survive it.
As a result of the limitations to basic life essentials, life expectancy will reduce while mortality rate will increase. Occasioned by the inability to access basic ingredients, malnourishment will set in causing diseases and ailments. Thus deaths will result causing the reduction in life expectancy and increase in mortality rate. Inflation afflicts the citizens of a system terribly. In an economy strickened with inflation, the people suffers hunger and starvation. There will be high rate of exposure to environmental calamities. What should be considered as a diet will practical become a stable nutrition among the poor masses.
Not only will feeding be a problem, unemployment will also increase rapidly. Many small scale businesses will fold up due to inability to meet up with high cost of raw materials. On the other hand, medium scale businesses as well as cooperate and limited liability companies will have to downsize their staff strength also due to high cost of running.
The consequent effect then will be high cost of unemployment.
Moreso, many of the high standard service providers might run into business lost as a result of people not being able to afford their services.
Another effect of inflation is that social vices and criminal activities will also be on the rise. Since people couldn't afford basic necessities of life, there will be more of criminal tendencies to strive for survival. What should be expected of those who might have lost jobs or customers? They will certainly be that drive to engage in criminal activities in order to sustain themselves and those depending on them.
Inflation can really destroy a nation structure.
In an inflation strickened economy, it will be common to hear of suicide and other casualties. When people couldn't know how to manage the hardship imposed by the inflation, they became depressed and some eventually lead to suicide.
Aside suicide, many of such individuals go insane due to inability to manage the pressure.
SURVIVING UNDER INFLATION
★ Diversifying Income Generation:
Certainly, it won't be palatable to depend on a single source of income under an inflation strickened economy. This is because more money would be needed to foot expense bills daily. Delving into other aspects of income generation would be wise. There are several sectors one can explore to make more income. One can venture into agriculture since crop production could be done in low scale with little or no income. Aside from income generation, poor parents and low income earners could actually get their food supply from their farms rather than sourcing for money to buy them.
Also, learning extra skills could be helpful. One who has acquired skills or who is an artisan, could start earning extra income from such. Even employees who are on low income payroll can earn additional income during their spare time from artisan work. Petty trading also could be helpful to low income earners. But in doing this proper understanding should be gotten in order to know what are the simple daily needs of the dwellers of such a community.
★ Downsizing of Recurrent Expenses:
Recurrent expenses are those daily expenses at home or otherwise. Most of those items could have cheaper alternatives. For someone who is a low income earner in an economy where inflation is high, there is wisdom to cut down on such expenses. Only items which couldn't be done away with should be endured. Moreso, locally sourced cost free alternatives should be adopted. Most people, even though they don't have money, have high taste. Such persons should learn self-discipline. They should spend money on only what is needed.
★ Do It Yourself Approach:
Some little menial home chores could be done without the service of a hired labourer. Things like doing the laundry, cooking, walking the kids to school, housekeeping, etc could actually be done by the house owner himself rather than paying. Except such has enough income to survive under inflation. If he/she is a low income earner, there's a need to adopt the do it yourself approach. Unnecessary and avoidable expenses should be taken into consideration and trimmed off.
★ Hardwork:
Sometimes, it's good to go the extra mile in earning money. If your strength can carry you, there's no crime in accepting an extra job. When the present income is uncomfortable under the inflation, part of the spare time or free time could be used in earning more.
If one is young and mentally sound, he/she could also make some money from legit online businesses. Engaging in Blockchain could be one of the ways. But while looking for online businesses opportunities, care must be taken not to fall into the hand of scammers or enter ponzi schemes.
Finally, I want to suggest that the government should be sensitive to the plight of the people and take up adequate measures to curb the inflation, especially like the type currently afflicting the Nigeria economy. Palliative measures such as offering free education, assisting farmers, subsidizing simple basic amenities, supporting small and medium scale businesses with soft loans, etc should be considered especially in seasons of high inflation like what is experienced currently.