Study: 39% of Jordanians spend their income in the first week of the month

Al - Anbat- NEVEEN - AL - JARRAH 

Historically, waves of high prices and the highest inflation continue to hit the world's economies, bringing the cost of living to record levels, which advanced economies are trying to curb with aid and interest hikes, while citizens of middle-income and developing countries are under the pressure of rising prices, to run out of pockets early in the month.

While observers of the economic scene are concerned, amid the expectations of international institutions of a slowdown in the global economy and entering into a recession, a recent special study conducted by "Eram Economic” and published in episodes, monitored what the employee faces in a number of Arab countries as a result of the waves of high prices through an opinion poll in 13 Arab countries, It included 1170 participants from different levels, through which they revealed the effects of the global wave of high prices on their salaries.

The study revealed that 39% of Jordanians spend their income in the first week, and 48% of the participants in the study support between three to five individuals, stressing that the citizens of 7 Arab countries are, in order: Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan, their pockets run out of salary before the end of the month. Rather, the majority of them run out before the end of the third week.

Participants from Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar stated that the cost of renting a house is their biggest source of expenditure.

It showed that the study participants from Jordan, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Iraq answered that water costs them monthly expenses in third place after food and housing.

The participants in the study also revealed whether their monthly salaries are enough for them, when they run out of pockets, where exactly they spend their money, and can they save?

Here are the details:

Who spends his salary first?

The study revealed that citizens of 7 Arab countries, in order: Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan, run out of salary before the end of the month, but most of them run out before the end of the third week.

According to the study, more than 94% of employees in the same seven countries spend their income before the end of the month.

Lebanon topped the scene of suffering, as 99% of the participants in the study said that their pockets ran out before the end of the third week, and 92.5% of the participants in Iraq during the same period, and the same applies to 92% of the participants in Egypt.

At the same time, the study showed shocking results, as more than half of the participants from Lebanon (56%) spend their monthly income during the first week, while 70% of the study participants support a family consisting of 3 to 5 members.

Then comes Tunisia, in which the income of 47% of the study participants runs out during the first week, and 75% of them support between three to five individuals, and then Jordan, in which the study showed that 39% of the participants spend their income in the first week, and 48% of the study participants support Three to five people.

In Algeria, 35.6% of the study participants confirmed that their monthly income runs out at the end of the first week of every month, while 36.1% of those who participated in Morocco stated that their monthly income runs out at the end of the second week of every month.

Expenditures

Regarding the destinations for spending the monthly income (food, health, education, transportation, housing rent, water, electricity, clothes, loans, and entertainment), the study participants from Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Iraq chose "food” as the most source of spending, while the priorities of most of them were equal. Participants from Morocco like "food and rent for housing.” On the other hand, participants from Jordan, Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar mentioned that the cost of renting a house is their biggest source of expenditure.

It was remarkable that the participants in the study from Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Iraq answered that water costs them monthly expenses in a third place after food and housing, which highlights the increasing share of water in the monthly expenditure of citizens in Arab countries.

In Lebanon, the study participants chose the "electricity" expense as the most burdensome for their monthly bill, after food and housing. As for the cost of "education", it was the second source of spending in Kuwait and the third in each of Morocco, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The participants in the study in Qatar had other answers, so the percentage of those who chose "education” was equal to those who chose "entertainment”, while in Tunisia the percentage of "education” was equal to "loans” in terms of the value of spending; While the majority of participants from the Sultanate of Oman and Bahrain said that "loans" are the second source of expenditure and come between "food" as the first source and "housing rent", which ranks third in the employee's budget.

Finally, entertainment

A large number of study participants agreed that entertainment has become a thing of the past, after it ranked tenth (last) on the list of monthly expenses with 77% of Algerians, 75% of Egyptians, and 68% of Moroccans.

And the Arabs spend only a small part of their income on entertainment, according to what the study showed, regardless of the level of income, as it ranked among the 3 least sources of spending out of 10 expenditures that the study asked the participants in the questionnaire to arrange according to the value and the percentage that it acquires from their monthly income.

Lebanon, Algeria and Egypt topped the list of countries in which spending on entertainment appends spending, according to more than 70% of the respondents.

In Saudi Arabia, 53.3% confirmed that their spending on entertainment is among the three least expenditures, and the same applies to the UAE, at a rate of 51.7%. While 45% of the participants chose entertainment in Bahrain, 42.9% of the sample in Kuwait went to this item of expenditure.

Expensive and inflation

The study showed that most Arabs spend their income before the end of the month without a regular ability to save, which reflects the impact of employees on waves of high prices and inflation in 13 Arab countries, whose opinions were surveyed through a systematic electronic questionnaire in which thousands of citizens and residents, men and women of the age group above The eighteen-year-olds and those who enjoy a job were 85.1%, or those who have a fixed source of income as owners of special interests were 14.9%.

The overwhelming majority of the participants, 88.1%, reported that three or more persons benefit from the income, while the remaining 12% reported that only one or two beneficiaries.

The results varied between the Gulf countries on the one hand, and the other Arab countries in terms of the percentage of ability to save part of the income at the end of the month. The percentages also varied among the Gulf countries themselves.