As schools gear up to open next week, salesmen stock their stores with various school supplies. — Okaz photo Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette Schools will start in a week's time and stationery shops are now flooded by children and their parents, instead of grocery stores and sweet shops during Ramadan and Eid in the past week. However, stocking up on Ramadan foods followed by shopping for new Eid clothes and gifts, and then purchasing school supplies and paying exorbitant amounts of tuition fees has come up as a severe financial blow for most parents in the Kingdom. Some residents who spoke to Saudi Gazette said that there has been an unjustifiable increase in prices on all commodities in general in Jeddah. For example, ever since the government imposed a ban on taking service charges from customers, they have gradually raised the prices of most of the dishes in their menus. “It is our family tradition to dine out for lunch on the first three days of Eid to celebrate and for me to relax from the task of cooking. Even at average restaurants, not to mention the five star ones, the prices have drastically increased. I want to know why carbonated beverages at restaurants range between SR7 to as high as SR12 at some places. The same bottle of drink can be purchased for SR1.5 at the grocery stores. Why do we have to pay him five times the original price?” complained Farah Muhammad, a resident of Jeddah. The average Saudi family spends no less than SR500 on a regular trip to the grocery store for just basic needs. On average, with slight discrepancies between one store and another, these days a kilogram of tomatoes costs SR10.95, cucumbers SR6.95, green beans SR10, Australian carrots SR10.95, boneless skinless chicken breasts SR18, and a large 5kg bag of rice around SR35. When the main breadwinner of the family earns a modest salary which is to be split between rent, car, gasoline, food items, school supplies and fees, even a small inflation in prices can lead to financial hardships. Adel Al-Ghamdi, a young Saudi father, was so disgruntled and fed up with the increasing financial demands he has been running into that he is seriously contemplating to move to another city like Al-Baha where the cost of life on basic items are less. Al-Ghamdi however highlighted an important point that almost all people tend to overlook. We usually blame merchants and businesses for hike in prices and for driving families into financial distress, but the truth is that as consumers we live in a culture that dictates us to spend exorbitantly. “Both my wife and I are working, yet our combined salaries are not enough to cover our expenses and our desires for finer things. During the first week of Ramadan we extravagantly spent on food staples such as dates, lentils, oats, apricot paste for juice. Some of the leftover items are still sitting in the cupboard one week after Eid. Our society expects women to wear new and fancy clothes on each day of Eid. Now with schools around the corner I am in serious financial trouble. I have received a job offer in Al-Baha and I am thinking of taking it because I believe that life over there is simpler and expenses will be less burdensome,” Al-Ghamdi said. Economic analyst Talaat Hafith said, “In effect, it is not the season or the time of year that drains the pockets of most families, it is their lack of financial planning and thinking ahead. Our culture is in serious need of well informed money management skills. It is disappointing to find that the concept of saving up for a rainy day, or allocating a fixed monthly budget for entertainment are some common aspects which are almost absent in many Saudi families.”
