It's Tuesday morning. Muhammad Redwan Hossan is waiting for his pay. He has done electric work at a newly constructed residential building.

The time goes by and he grows anxious. He is not sure whether the contractor will show up to clear dues and make way for him to celebrate Eid with his family.

“I bought clothes for my relatives last Eid. This time, I don't know whether I will be able to,” says 22-year-old Redwan, sitting on a chair near the entrance of the building at Wari in Dhaka.

Next to him, two men blotched with drops of distemper paint the boundary walls of the building, while the screech of steel and tile cutters fill the air.

Redwan is quite uncertain about getting his dues before Eid, as the contractor already informed that payments would be delayed.

“I want to go home on Thursday. But buying gifts depends on getting my wages."

Redwan, who claims to earn Tk 150 a day for electric work, is like many low-income groups of people who find their wallets squeezed before Eid, one of the biggest religious festivals, when people purchase gifts for their loved ones.

Traders say the shopping spree that continues during the whole month of Ramadan, ending just hours before the Eid day, generates nearly a fourth of Tk 98,216 crore retail and wholesale sales a year in Bangladesh.

During the month of Ramadan, people from all income groups splurge on clothes, footwear, jewellery, cosmetics and even electronic gadgets.

Traders say high-end consumers lead the way, with the mid- and lower-mid groups not far behind.

However, the rising cost of living coupled with less than expected wage hikes reduced the spending capacity of the low-income groups of the country with a population of 15 crore. Some 40

percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

In one year to September 2010, the price of basic food, coarse rice, surged 50 percent to Tk 31-32 a kilogram fromTk20-22.

The price of relatively better quality rice shot up over 40 percent in the same period, amid worries of crop losses of the biggest crop Boro due to floods in some districts in haor areas.

Masud Rana, who works at a computer hardware retail outlet at Elephant Road, says a rise in the cost of food has dampened his desire to spend on Eid.

"I paid nearly Tk 2,000 in meal charges during Ramadan last year. But it has gone up by Tk 500 this year," he says.

Also, the prices of other essential commodities, such as edible oil, rose. Apart from food prices, a rise in house rent has also become a concern for those living in urban areas.

The rising costs of food and other costs now led inflation to rise. Annual inflation soared to 7.31 percent at the end of fiscal 2009-10 from6.66percentayearago.

Monthly inflation also rose by 0.5 percentage point to 8.70 percent in June from a month ago.

The festival is not going to be so pleasant for Md Belal Molla, a day labourer who offloads sand from boats at Gabtoli.

"My earnings have dropped but the cost of food has not," says the 45-year-old labourer, adding that

he would have to cut spending this Eid.

He says the possibility of getting hired on a regular basis to unload sand has dropped this year. "The number of workers has increased more than the demand forunloadingsand."

To adjust with lower than expected earnings, 26-year-old rickshaw puller Sayeed Mia has decided not to buy a new sari for his spouse.

"My main earnings come from making school trips. But the holidays from the beginning of Ramadan have cut his scope. The traffic jams also bar him from making more rounds for the Eid shoppers.”

Earnings of Anwar Habib, who

works as a quality inspector at a garment factory in Tejgaon, also declined due to cuts in overtime.

Overtime at his factory dropped in the last four months, compared to last year during Eid.

Habib says his monthly wages, including the Eid bonus, would be Tk 6,000 this year, dropping from Tk8,000lastyear.

He says he bought clothes for his parents, sister and nephew last year. But this year, he would have to limit spending by buying gifts only for his parents.

This time, Habib is not going home.

"I have already let my family know about it. It's sad."

sohel@ th edailystar, net