For cash-strapped Arabs, little cheer during Eid

updated 2:47 p.m. ET Dec. 8, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt - The bones would normally have gone to the dogs.

This year, they are a carefully wrapped prize tucked under Zeinab Mansour's arm in an embarrassing reminder of the meat that her family cannot afford much of during this Eid al-Adha, one of Islam's most important holidays.

"One of (the bones) has a few small chunks of meat. It'll be good for soup, and to flavor the fatta," says Mansour, a 32-year-old mother of three, referring to a traditional Eid dish of rice, bread and meat. But the bones, supplemented with a pound of fatty meat she also picked up, are a meager substitute this year.

From Cairo to Baghdad, Muslims are having to pinch pennies as the global financial crisis and high inflation give new meaning to the four-day Festival of Sacrifice, which began Monday, marking the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God.

Families are having to cut back on celebrations, and retailers are feeling the hit during a holiday when Muslims usually enjoy lavish meals of lamb or beef, distribute meat to the poor and splurge on clothes and other gifts from their children, relatives and friends.

In Egypt, meat has surged to about $4 a pound, up 30 percent from last year's Eid, a painful squeeze in a country where the World Bank estimates that nearly 20 percent of the 79 million population lives on less than $2 a day.

"What does it say about me, and this country, when I have to ask the butcher to give me bones that he used to throw to the dogs," asked Mansour as she walked down a litter-strewn street in Ain Shams, the teeming lower-income Cairo neighborhood where she, her husband and children live a two-room apartment and survive on around $110 per month.

The Egyptian government has been actively working to mitigate the impact of the global financial downturn. The unstated fear is that lower economic growth, lower tourism and Suez Canal revenues and high inflation could again stoke the kind of protests that erupted earlier this year, when inflation hit highs of about 24 percent.

The government last week unveiled a $1.3 billion stimulus package aimed at supporting investment levels in industry and trade.

Officials have also said they expect inflation, currently 20.9 percent, would drop to the low teens next year as commodity and food prices decline. Economic growth, meanwhile, is expected to slow to 6 percent, about one percentage point lower than a year earlier.

But the figures are largely meaningless to Egyptians and other Arabs, who were already struggling to make ends meet before the global meltdown.

Retailers, car dealers see sharp drop
Youssef Mohammed, owner of an Amman, Jordan, clothing store said sales have been slow this year, particularly heading into the usually busy Eid period.

"I don't see many clients in my shop, although my prices are not high," he said.

The declines are mirrored elsewhere in the country, with car dealers in the duty free zone reporting a 50 percent drop in sales this year.

To stimulate the economy and boost liquidity in a country dependent on foreign investments and aid, Jordan's Central Bank has lowered key lending rates and the banks' reserve requirement.

In Syria, where investments have been slower to come and an influx of about 2 million Iraq refugees is straining the government's budget, holidays like these drive home the economic difficulties.

In shopping districts in central Damascus, retailers report a roughly 50 percent decline in sales compared to the period leading up to last year's Eid.

Late last week, at a time when they would usually be bustling with activity, several sweet shops were almost empty. Sheep sellers were also finding little to cheer about.

"If I sell half of them, I'll be very happy," said Adel Jasim, 35 who, as of Friday, had not sold any of the 130 sheep he brought to the city's lower-income Zablatani suburb.

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