JEDDAH: Many of the expatriate communities living in the Kingdom have different consumer habits. But it is mainly the Egyptians, Sudanese and Syrians who exhibit the culture of saving everything for use back home. If you visit any of the 700,000 Egyptians — laborers, technicians, doctors, engineers, pharmacists, accountants and teachers — you will see big cartons and suitcases containing purchases over the years, stacked away under the beds or on top of cupboards.

The Egyptians will not use, or allow anyone to use, any of these purchases that have been slowly accumulating throughout their stay in the Kingdom. No matter how long they stay in the Kingdom, many Egyptians keep all the new and expansive purchases intact to use only when they go home, regardless of the fact that they may then be obsolete or out of fashion.

What is amazing is that the Egyptian expatriate will inculcate these habits into his wife and children. The wife will keep this set of porcelain, that dress, abayah, pair of shoes, trousers, sheets, blankets and tea cups as they are until the end of their time in the Kingdom.

They postpone the use of their new and beautiful purchases until they go home and in fact, many expatriates furnish their houses in the Kingdom in a very humble manner. They also buy cheap clothes and old cars!

Shakir Abdul Aziz, an Egyptian journalist who has been working for a Saudi newspaper for more than 30 years, said the strong social bonds the Egyptian feels for his relatives and friends drive him to make frenzied purchases for them, specially of commodities which are not available in Egypt or which are more expensive there.

Aymen Abdul Aziz, an Egyptian in his early 20s, said Egyptians were saving their purchases because they believed that their stay in the Kingdom and other Arab Gulf countries was only temporary and so they have to go home with all the purchases they have made.

He said, unlike the Yemenis and Lebanese who tend toward permanent or long stays, the Egyptians go out of their country only to improve their financial condition and go back home as quickly as possible.

“This type of thinking has prompted many Egyptians to spend as little as possible while in the Gulf countries and to save as much as possible of their purchases for use at home,” he said.

Sayed Qazi, a computer engineer, said even when they go out of their country to make more money, the Egyptians will not give up their culture of saving and will thus consider any extra spending as unjustified conduct. He said Egyptians, especially those from rural areas, were keen to buy gifts for their relatives and friends because these people will come to greet them when they arrive in Egypt on their annual vacations.

Abdullah Basyouni, an Egyptian engineer in his 30s who has been working in Saudi Arabia for the last five years, believes that the saving habits of Egyptians have changed because of the opening of new malls and supermarkets in Egypt where you can find items that were not available earlier.

He also said the purchases of Egyptians had fallen because the large number of highly qualified people — doctors and engineers — who have come to the Kingdom lately are not fond of shopping.