With Ramadan and Eid just over, they now have to cope with expenses of the new school year.
Many had set aside their July salaries for the huge expenses that awaited them in Ramadan. The expenses in the holy month and the celebration of Eid devoured their whole income in August, and most families are awaiting their September paychecks to meet the expenses of school fees and purchase of stationery, as children return to school after the summer break.
For many of them, the crisis started as early as June with their earnings in the month set aside for vacation expenses.
This is a real challenge every year for ordinary citizens, who are seen waiting in front of teller machines to access their bank accounts on each payday. Some people spend their whole salary on the first day of receiving it as they have to settle bills and pay installments. Others empty their pockets within a few days.
The tendency to spend all their earnings for the month within a few days reflects a lack of planning and failure to work out spending priorities in most families, according to a recent survey published by Al-Riyadh daily. Subsequently, the crisis aggravates day by day without any solutions in sight.
Hamad Al-Saeed, a Saudi citizen, said on the issue: “As parents, we shoulder big responsibilities. The burden is especially heavy during the months of Shaaban, Ramadan and Shawwal. However, we cannot run away from responsibilities.”
Al-Saeed, who earns a monthly salary of SR7,000, continued: “I went out for shopping with my wife on the advent of Ramadan. I was surprised to see that prices of most essential goods were very high, which wreaked havoc on our Ramadan budget. We had to spend about half of my salary on Ramadan shopping alone.”
Al-Saeed added that he had to find money from other sources to purchase dresses for his eight children for Eid Al-Fitr.
According to Al-Saeed, he spends the whole of his Shawwal salary on his children’s school expenses. “This period is highly disturbing for parents, who have to find money for the never-ending requirements of children,” he said, adding that there were no concrete solutions to this perennial problem.
Echoing the same feeling, Umm Abdullah said that the pressure is high as far as ordinary parents were concerned. “It is very difficult to plan the family budget for this period. We need to spend money to fulfill the requirements of Ramadan, including unexpected ones, such as family iftars and relatives who come from distant places to spend a few days with us,” she said.
Umm Abdullah is an employee with a monthly salary of SR10,000. Her husband also works. She wondered what families with limited income would do to tackle the crisis. “Even with the two salaries, we are under pressure to meet the expenses of Ramadan, Eid and back-to-school,” she said.
Saad Al-Jeraisan, another citizen, said that he faced a bigger crisis than most people, because he pays his annual rent of SR25,000 for his apartment in Ramadan. “This has even prompted me to think of shifting to another place. It is very difficult for me to meet the expenses of Ramadan due to this,” he said.
According to Al-Jeraisan, people with other financial obligations find it very hard to cope with expenses in these months. “Some may have to spend on a sick family member, while others may have to repay bank loans, and so forth,” he said, adding that greedy traders aggravated their situation further by recklessly resorting to a price hike for both consumer goods as well as other seasonal necessities.
Ibtisam Abdul Rahman, a widow with four boys, said she struggled to meet the expenses of Ramadan. “I get a monthly allowance of SR2,700. I start saving a small amount of it over a period of six months prior to Ramadan. I have to meet the requirements of Ramadan, Eid and the new school term. Even though I spend prudently, the price hikes virtually destabilized my budget,” she said, while urging authorities to continuously monitor the market.
Noted academic and economic consultant Abdul Rahman Al-Sanie stressed that the concerned authorities should shoulder responsibility and ease the burden of citizens to solve the spending crisis families face especially during this period.
“First and foremost, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce must play a significant role in this respect. They should intensify market monitoring and take stringent action against greedy traders who exploit the situation,” he said, while urging the citizens to spend prudently and avoid extravagance.
