As Ramadan approaches, prices rocket skywards

On the eve of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, food prices have again gone up by 20-25 per cent. As prices of most commonly used food items have increased for the umpteenth time with the beginning of this week, in a long series of price-increasing since the government made a decision to devalue Maldivian currency against US Dollars, concerns about life in Ramadan has been mounting. Ramadan is a month during which Maldivians have traditionally enjoyed better food than usual.

This time the prices of eggs and milk have made the highest jump. While the supply of eggs has decreased, price of a box of eggs has increased from MRF200 to 500. In retail shops all over Malé, the price of eggs vary between MRF2.50 and 3.00. Some wholesalers have said that the current upward pull in the prices of eggs was the result of a sudden shortage in supply.

Price of Coast, the most popular brand of milk in the Maldives, has also jumped and now a 400 g container costs MRF65 (compared to MRF55 before), a 900 g container costs MRF138 (compared to MRF113 before) and a 2.5 kg container costs MRF350 (compared to 300 before). The rocketing prices of milk powder have been a real frustration for the people in a country where no milk products are produced, but are important from countries such as New Zealand and Holland.

As prices of household goods and basic food items, among all the other goods and services, keep on increasing just before Ramadan, State Trading Organization (STO) Chairman Shahid Ali said that he had no doubt that prices would be stable for Ramadan. “Our orders have been placed well, and unless a new and unforeseeable circumstance is created, we have no doubt that we will have equilibrium of demand and supply. We are importing sufficient quantities, and there won’t be any shortage”, he said.

After the devaluation of Maldivian currency against US Dollar, the major foreign currency used in the Maldives almost absolutely as a national legal tender, STO announced that they would start importing some 25 basic household items and retail them through their shops at a low price affordable to the public. Shahid assured that the first shipment of goods under the program would arrive on the 18th of this month. “The arrival of this shipment will give us control over basic food items”, he said. He said that a shipment of onions, sauce and eggs would have arrived the day before, but for the unavailability of a shipper. “There is congestion at Colombo as well as Indian ports, and that is the main reason why arrival of supply ships has been delayed. Most ships have been carrying construction materials due to the high demand for them, and it is not easy to secure a transport vessel at the moment”, he said.

A serious situation of uncontrolled inflation has threatened to paralyze the economy, and many goods and services in the country have seen price rises ranging from 10% to 500%, and many have complained that the government had not made proper efforts to counter the many problems with the economic situation. While the value of the Maldivian currency was recently set against a fluctuating band between 10.28 and 15.42 against a US Dollar, inflation has assured that the bank rates are at the highest and black market rates are as much as MRF 18-24 against 1 Dollar. Within the last few months, prices of most retails prices have increased by an average of MRF50.