Cost of living rises - article in Peninsula
Article from the Peninsula 21 May 2007:
"DOHA • After the skyrocketing house rents, it is the spiralling prices of vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and several other food items which are putting financial strains on limited-income people.
Expatriates living here singly or with families are not the only ones who are suffering. There are limited-income Qatari nationals as well who are struggling to help meet both ends..."
When it was just affecting expats, the companies didn't seem to care too much, but now that inflation is biting at the Qatari population too, does this mean employers are going to take action and raise salaries in line with inflation?
Dweller has previously noted that they seem to do nothing for ages and then overreact. Will they continue to do nothing? When will they decide to act? Is this the tipping point, when it starts to affect Qataris?
Inflation brought about by Rising Rent Rates?
And they cant find an answer?
Or may be the answer is simple - "No renting by/for Women" & "Stricter Renting laws"
Thats what they did to solve the Traffic-problem....lol.
Someone once said if you want to remove pest from your house just burn down your house ...."there aint gonna be no pest again "
I wonder if there is Poverty Line of this country, and how many of us are living below the line.
There's no point coming here and turn up as a poor man.
And when the majority of the workforce is comprised of expatriates! I'd like to see Qatar survive if all the expats decided it was too expensive to live here and pack up and leave.
Everyone needs a raise, not just nationals. And landlords should start being forced to pay back their loans. That would force them to rent out their units (which they are now holding "for one company only", just because they do not need to start paying back the bank).......and the prices should in theory go down, as supply will exceed demand.
Dinkyw is right, Dubai made this mistake before; and not only has Qatar not learned from this mistake, it's made an even bigger one.
Everytime I have to buy food at the supermarket, I am acutely aware of how much more expensive things have gotten. When it becomes too expensive to live here, people will leave; like ooo said. I mean come on; we're not exactly talking about living in New York, or London; and yet it's getting almost as expensive. Is it really worth it?
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Mahatma Gandhi
That's exactly what's happening in my company Dweller: people are leaving one after the other and they are opening their eyes …
Why should the Employers pick up the cost of inflation? As Moonbeam mentioned, greedy landlords and real estate agents have caused the problem and how this Government did not learn from the same mistake Dubai made two years ago is quite beyond me. Unless of course Government employess are landlords!
They could increase allowance paid only to nationals as an interim measure.
It really depends how many people start showing that they are p'd off by resigning, particularly in the key industries, mainly oil/gas and others that have a high profile.
Food Stamps and welfare checks anyone???
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds..
I shook my head when I read that The expenses double in the case of nationals since they HAVE to maintain a certain standard of living. Weren't they beduins living in the desert only a generation ago? Now they can't like without a Landcruiser, housemaid, driver, nanny and a cook?
It's a real shame and shambles. Inflation, chaos on the roads, health care, schools... I understand and accept the principle of a free-market economy but not a free-for-all.
Rising cost of living............
I especially like the part..... "The expenses double in the case of nationals "
"An expatriate living with family (wife and two children) needs a minimum of QR10,000 a month to survive, given the higher house rent, school fee and the ever-increasing prices of essentials.
The expenses double in the case of nationals since they have to maintain a certain standard of living, say community sources. "
Now the rich will keep getting richer, and the poorer will keep getting poorer. If the nationals that keep hiking up the rents weren't so darned greedy, Qatar wouldn't have this problem.
Just like I said a while back, they are just damaging themselves with their greed. Its sad that the the less fortunate qatari's and expats pay the price.
WAKE UP!