Ramadan is a heavy guest on Yemenis due to crises

The month of Ramadan has arrived in Yemen amidst the ongoing repercussions of the living and security crisis that has been sweeping the country since the Houthi coup on September 21, 2014, without any signs of a breakthrough that would bring the people together, with the continuation of battles, as well as the state of political, military and economic fragmentation, which negatively affects the conditions of Yemenis, which are getting worse.

Yemenis used to wait for the month of Ramadan with great eagerness and welcome, but in recent years it has become a heavy guest on them, in light of the almost complete absence of signs of welcoming it, which appears in the markets almost empty of shoppers, and the absence of decorations due to the difficult living conditions, and the rise in food prices that have burdened the citizen, with the continuing crisis of salary cuts, the collapse of the national currency exchange rate, and the decline in its purchasing value, in addition to the inflation that affects the provision of Ramadan table requirements, most notably flour, ghee, sugar and rice.

Yemeni woman, Munira Saif Khaled, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “This year, the signs of preparation for the month of Ramadan have disappeared from the markets due to poverty. Citizens can barely get enough food for their families, and the living conditions have become poor, especially since an employee’s salary is not enough to buy a bag of flour, and prices are rising every day, and the riyal is worthless.”

Yemenis face great challenges in light of the increase in needs and low income, in conjunction with the high cost of living, which has forced many families to resort to reducing the number of meals. Many families have also begun to pin their hopes on the meals provided by charitable organizations during Ramadan, which are meals that are barely enough for one person, but these families have become forced to share them in light of the inability to provide daily food.

This was also reflected in the merchants whose businesses were affected by the recession, as buying and selling were limited to basic food items, with a widespread reluctance to buy luxuries. Mahyoub Ghaleb owns a grocery store and tells Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “Yemeni families used to provide their Ramadan provisions in full from the beginning of Sha’ban, as they would buy large quantities of flour, sugar, ghee, rice, spices and other items. The markets were crowded from the end of Rajab due to the large number of shoppers who would arrive in the city from villages and rural areas in preparation for Ramadan, and later to prepare Eid clothing. However, these aspects have completely disappeared, and shops are now suffering from an unprecedented recession due to the deteriorating conditions and high prices.”

With the advent of the month of Ramadan, many crises emerged, especially the crisis of the lack of cooking gas, which is a crisis that is created every year before the month of Ramadan, as a number of merchants monopolize gas and sell it on the black market at double prices, exploiting the increase in demand for it, as Yemeni families consume in Ramadan many times what they consume in other months.

“We suffer from the absence of government oversight, and every year, traders create a gas crisis and sell it on the black market,” Mustafa al-Tuwaiti told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. “I searched all the city’s stations, but I couldn’t find gas. In the end, I had to buy it from the black market at three times the official price, as I bought a cylinder for 30,000 riyals (the dollar is equal to 2,315 riyals in the legitimate government areas). This increases the extent of our suffering during Ramadan, which we have become afraid of coming due to the increase in obligations and needs.”

One of the additional concerns facing Yemenis during Ramadan is providing Eid clothing, the prices of which have more than doubled compared to last year, causing an unprecedented recession in clothing stores, whose owners now fear losses during the month of Ramadan, which used to be an annual season of profit.

Before the war years, clothing stores were crowded with shoppers buying Eid clothing from the beginning of the month of Shaaban and during the month of Ramadan. These were special seasons for clothing sellers, who made huge profits due to their high sales, but the situation is no longer the same today.

“Every year, we would rush to import several orders of clothes for the season that begins in Sha’ban,” Dhaif Allah Al-Maamari, a clothing store owner, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. “There was a huge demand from customers, and we would make more profits in Ramadan than we did throughout the year. But this year, there is a huge recession, and so far we have not succeeded in disposing of last year’s merchandise due to the lack of demand for purchases.”

The United Nations says Yemen is experiencing its worst humanitarian crisis ever, with 17.6 million people reportedly facing food insecurity. According to the International Monetary Fund, the ongoing conflict has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with the decline in aid and the disruption of humanitarian operations leaving more than 17 million people facing food insecurity, widespread malnutrition, and increased outbreaks of preventable diseases.

New Arab