Ramadan price hikes anger Mauritanians

Mounting holiday expenses are putting a heavy strain on Mauritanian families.

By Mohamed Yahya Ould Abdel Wedoud for Magharebia in Nouakchott - 03/08/11

The holy month began on Monday (August 1st), but spiking food costs are tempering celebrants' excitement about preparing Ramadan meals.

"The prices of basic items doubled in a short period without any justification, and many families became unable to bear the situation, especially with low wages," one frustrated Mauritanian shopper told Magharebia at a Nouakchott market.

"They are unable to keep up with prices and the lack of control or supervision by public authorities over the markets, leading some merchants to engage in speculation," added Zeinebou Mint Dahi, head of a household.

Most ordinary citizens are flummoxed by this spike, which affects their daily lives.

"Personally, I cannot understand the curse of the high prices that haunt Mauritanian citizens these days," civil activist Lalla Mint Mohamed. "The country is rich in wealth and exports gold, oil, iron and fish daily to the world, and with all that, we do not see or hear of any revenue. In turn, the poverty rate exceeds 70%, unemployment is approaching 50%, and prices are rising in an insane way without any logical explanation."

Traders are importing vegetables from Morocco due to the weakness of national agricultural products.

"Economic activities have been affected by several factors, including increases in fuel prices, which recently approached two dollars per liter, necessitating an increase in the prices of shipped goods," said truck driver Mohamed Ould Sayadat.

Climbing fuel costs have forced many vegetable vendors to raise the prices of their products for fear of loss. Many complain of increasing taxes and encounter difficulties in transporting and storing vegetables as well as renting shops.

Some economic experts point to the security situation as the main factor behind the low purchasing power of citizens.

"The government ended up spending a lot of money on security and the army instead of development programs and activities that benefit ordinary citizens, which contributed to higher poverty rates in general and high prices in particular," argued analyst Mohamed Moustapha.

Taxi driver Lemrabott Ould Ahmed said: "The open war on al-Qaeda should not be paid for by ordinary citizens, who are already economically exhausted".

The country needs to re-think its economic strategy, given that "poverty rates are increasing day after day amid an unprecedented decline in the purchasing power of citizens", he added.

Ould Ahmed said that price speculation especially affected poor neighborhoods in Nouakchott and the interior cities.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/03/feature-03.