Labor issues, inflation to hang over expats this Ramadan

With the growth of the economy, it is natural to see inflation adding to the woes of the salaried people. Such developments disturb the life of everyone, with poor people being ignorant of economic factors, especially during Ramadan.
The economic growth together with inflation and forceful implementation of labor laws has raised questions about the way people will likely lead their lives. Each Ramadan, all Arab families wherever they are face the budgeting problem, but for expatriates living in Saudi Arabia the problem is much bigger with the situation becoming difficult.
Most expatriates are exposed to the risk of being caught for working illegally. Even though some of them succeeded in correcting their job status, they have been urged to pay high amounts of fees to the sponsors, which absolutely will impact the expatriates’ budget negatively not only in Ramadan but laso during the rest of the year.
Arab News elicited opinions from a cross-section of people on how to avoid inflation in Ramadan. The main concern of expatriates is with the labor problems they run the risk of losing their jobs.
Mohammed Hamed, an Egyptian accountant living in Saudi Arabia for over six years, said he successfully budgeted for Ramadan in the past years, but this year the season will be difficult due to the labor problem he faces.
“I have always tried to keep a good balance between savings and expenses, and I succeeded in doing that in the past six years. Over the years, I have spent significantly more money in Ramadan on certain items like groceries, entertainment, and personal Eid Al-Fitr items due to inflation, which is estimated at between 3 and 5 percent in terms of annual increase,” he said.
This year, he added, the situation will be tough since he will take a vacation in Ramadan to avoid being caught by the passport inspection teams, while he is still struggling to finalize his sponsorship issue.
“I have tried to transfer my sponsorship to the company I am working for, but so far nothing happened yet. Due to the delay in transferring my sponsorship, I will not be able to work in Ramadan to avoid the raids. Therefore, I will not be able to get my salary. I don’t know how to manage in Ramadan, especially when I have already paid SR 8,000 to transfer my sponsorship, but nothing happened yet,” he said.
Some expatriates used to determine their top financial priorities in Ramadan, but yet this year their plans are almost crushed due to the new sponsorship system and the raids. “My family’s financial priorities in the Kingdom were stable for the past two years. I always try to save a minimum of 30-35 percent of my income. Despite inflation, my spending remains in consistence with my income and I think I am leading a balanced lifestyle,” said Hind Habib, a Tunisian IT worker with a Saudi private company for the last two years.
According to Habib, she was sharing home expenses with her husband during Ramadan, but this year she’ll not do that as she wants to quit before the Labor Ministry starts conducting raids.
“I think it’s almost impossible to avoid financial crisis during this Ramadan, and I’m a good example of that. In the past years with my salary of SR 3000, I shared household expenses with my husband’s SR 3,500 salary. We enjoyed good quality of life even during Ramadan, and we even saved money. This year Ramadan will be difficult as I’ll not be able to work, which means I’ll not receive my salary. I wonder how we’ll manage our expenses with my husband’s salary,” she said.
She added, “I don’t think inflation can be totally avoided during Ramadan.”