Vendors at the Madina Market have lamented the record of low sales of goods during the Christmas season.
According to the vendors, they were expecting to maximize profit this month due to the festivities. However, the state of the economy is not allowing them to do so.
”Things are not like first. Initially, we make a lot of sales during Christmas but now, we are not seeing anything this year. People see stuff they like but they don’t have money to buy. I’m expecting everything to be better so that we will all be happy but there is no money,” a vendor lamented.
Some of the vendors also revealed that they are forced to sleep at the market due to the prices hikes in transport fares.
”In January, the transport fare was better but it is not going well now at all. When you come to the market too they don’t buy. The lorry fare is killing us. Some of us even sleep in the market now. When you sleep here too, the landlords raise alarm. The shop owners also don,t want us to sleep in front of their shops. We have kids at home. We pay transport fares and all but we are struggling financially.”
They called on the government to work on stabilizing the economy in order for customers to purchase their products.
”I was expecting something big. I was expecting to make more money than last year. We wanted to make sales during this Christmas but the price hikes are not allowing people to buy. We want the government to stabilize the prices of petrol and the dollar so they can buy our things.” She said.
