Last year, Maryam Juma marked the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in style.
She spent $40 on a goat, roasted the beast to perfection and invited 10 relatives over for a feast to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan. She bought colourful new clothes for each of her children.
But this year, skyrocketing prices for staple foods and other goods have eaten into her budget, making celebrations she plans for Saturday much more low-key. Juma’s story is being played out across the Muslim world due to soaring global grain costs, unstable fuel prices and other rising costs on the world market.
“I had to think carefully about who to invite this year, just a small group of family,” Juma said in Zanzibar, which is 98% Muslim. “The prices of basic items are very high, and I cannot afford them.”
Consumers all over the world have been noticing a rise in food prices, linked to a range of issues — China’s economic boom fuelling demand, a growing biofuels industry cutting into supplies of grains that might otherwise have ended up on tables.
Consumer groups in Italy have called for pasta boycotts to protest increases of up to 20% in the cost of noodles. Heavy rains in Western Europe and a drought in Eastern Europe devastated crops, and Britain has contended with cattle diseases that have hit meat prices.
Contradiction
For Muslims, it might seem contradictory that skyrocketing food prices would be a concern during Ramadan, the month of fasting. But each day of fasting during the month commemorating the revelation of the Qur’an ends with friends and families gathering for sometimes elaborate meals, sharing delicacies that may not appear on tables for another year. And then comes the Eid feasting.
Last month, violent protests over the cost of bread prompted the Moroccan government to annul a 30% price hike linked to soaring global grain costs that would have come into affect just before the start of Ramadan.
Prices of meat, chicken, vegetables and fruits sharply soared during Ramadan in Lebanon. Although prices of food and vegetables are usually higher in Ramadan than in other months of the year, this year people noticed “an unprecedented rise in prices of almost all consumer goods, including those produced locally”, the Lebanese daily An-Nahar reported on Thursday.
Quoting the state-run Central Statistics Department, the paper said prices of consumer goods and services rose by 16%. Prices of all kinds of pastries, especially those made during Ramadan, went even higher, rising by about 20%.
In Egypt, the government statistics bureau said recently that the price of basic foodstuffs has risen by 48% in the past year. Al Ahram newspaper reported Ramadan consumers have been “shocked” by spikes in prices for bread, cooking oil, macaroni, tea, milk, cheese, sugar, butter, soft drinks, eggs, vegetables, meat, fruits and chicken.
In Malaysia, local media report that Eid cookies and cakes were costing more this year because wheat flour prices were hiked by nearly 20% last month.
Somalia
Rice, spaghetti and cooking oil have nearly doubled in price in Somalia’s violence-wracked capital, and many blame the lack of security combined with the monsoon season, which makes it perilous for ships carrying food to arrive in port. A 50kg bag of sugar was selling for $36, up from $20 in recent month.
“I am the breadwinner of a large family and I can’t afford to buy essential foods,” said Mogadishu resident Isaaq Hussein. “We hope our fellow Muslims can help us.”
Zanzibar’s inflation rate has reached 12% — bad news for any festive season, said Abdullah Kibao, the Zanzibar government’s chief economist. He cited fluctuating fuel prices, unregulated trade and the ongoing rehabilitation of the main port in Malindi.
The government says it is doing all it can to bring down inflation to help Zanzibaris enjoy Eid. But Salma Massoud, of Zanzibar’s Ministry of Trade, said businesses should shoulder some of the blame.
“They are hiking or self-regulating the prices of items just to make big margin of profits,” Massoud charged.
Over the past year, the 43-year-old Juma has seen the cost of a pair of shoes double, from an average $20 to nearly $50. The prices of food such as rice, bread and flour also have increased about 20%, Juma said.
Despite this year’s difficulties, Juma carries on. Instead of a whole goat, she said, she will simply buy some chicken for this year’s Eid. She will also make sure her children contribute to the festivities.
“I am a mother who now depends on her children to keep life going,” said Juma, who has an 11-year-old daughter and two sons, aged 13 and 9. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press writers Hussein Dakroub in Lebanon, Maggie Michael in Egypt and Sean Yoong in Malaysia contributed to this report