Exchange houses in the country gear up for Eid rush
Exchange houses across Qatar are expecting huge rush among expatriates during Eid Al Adha, The Peninsula reported. After witnessing a lull last month, remittances are likely to surge up to 25% during the festival, say exchange officials.
“Eid Al Adha is going to be a busy period for us. We had seen huge crowd of expatriates during Eid Al Fitr and we’re expecting same trend during Eid Al Adha holidays. Based on our experience of previous year, we expect remittances to rise between 20-25% during Eid,” said Zubair Abdul Rahman, Operations Manager, Al Zaman Exchange.
Ramadan and Eid are the best occasion for exchange houses in Qatar because maximum number of transactions in a year happen during these Festivals.
Remittances rise during Eid and Ramadan as most of the expatriates need to send money to their family members for meeting expenses related to these festivals.
“My family members organise a get together during Eid Al Adha which is attended by all the relatives. The function is big and my family needs extra money to meet these expenses. Along with my usual savings, I’ll borrow some extra money from my friends so that my family can enjoy Eid celebrations,” said a Pakistani expatriate working for a construction firm.
Egypt, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka are the main destinations that are likely to see major remittances.
“Remittances are likely to get added push because Onam festival is coinciding with Eid this year,” said a senior official at an exchange house in Mansoura.
Onam is a biggest festival celebrated in Kerala — a southern Indian state. Expatriates from Kerala form a sizeable chunk in Qatar.
“August was a dull month for remittances as most of the expatriates were on vacation. There was also a lull in last month as Eid Al Fitr was in July and expatriates had sent most of their savings back home. From this month onwards we’ve begun to see pick up in remittances,” he added.
Currencies of most of the countries which get major remittances from Qatar have largely remained stable in the past two months.
Indian Rupee is trading around 18.30 per Qatari riyal, Egyptian pound trading around 2.43 per riyal, Philippine Peso was stable at 12.75 per riyal. Pakistani rupee is hovering around 29 per riyal, Sri Lankan Rupee trading at 40 per riyal and Bangladeshi Taka is currently trading around 21.50 per Qatari riyal.
Courtesy: thepeninsulaqatar.com
I recall talking to a Nepali colleague in Saudi and he said that he has to borrow money to send home during this period, in order for the family to have a good time..
Wonder how many expats have to do the same here ?
Good news for the families at home and the exchange houses .. Joys