Eid al-Adha boosts sales, stimulates economy in Turkey

"We started to celebrate the Eid two weeks ago," says a shopkeeper in the Mavi store in İstanbul's Capitol Shopping Center. "Our sales increased by almost 40 percent in the last two weeks. Once again, this year's Eid al-Adha has put a smile on our faces."

The Capitol Shopping Center is jam-packed. Despite plenty of time until the feast, people are shopping like crazy as the sacred days of Eid al-Adha draw near. "It's hard to enjoy shopping with so many people," an elderly woman complains to her husband, while cashiers trying to handle the long queue of people carry a smile on their faces.

This year's Eid al-Adha, Islam's four-day religious holiday during which animals are slaughtered as a reminder of the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God as an act of obedience and submission, will be celebrated on Nov. 6-9. People have already started to flock to marketplaces, bazaars and shopping malls to buy new garments, candies and delights to "welcome" the spirit of sharing and caring. It is traditional to buy new clothes, called "bayramlık," to wear on the first day of the feast, when families gather during breakfast.

The impact of the Feast of the Sacrifice on the national economy does not appear to have been underestimated. In his remarks to cihan news agency, Meat and Fish Institution (EBK) President Bekir Ulubaş said he estimates that approximately 600,000 cows and 2 million sheep will be slaughtered during the feast. When considering that the price of a sheep varies between TL 500-700, while that of cows can reach up to TL 10,000, at least TL 5 billion will be injected into the Turkish economy just from slaughtered animals. Moreover, assuming that this year people will spend at least TL 2 billion, like they did on last year's Eid al-Adha, according to the Interbank Card Center (BKM), the Turkish retail sector will have an additional boost.

Although the animal sector is much talked about during the Eid al-Adha, the stimulation of the economy mainly emerges from sales in the retail sector. In a phone interview with Cihan news agency, leading textile manufacturer LC Waikiki CEO Vahap Küçük said the impact of the Eids on the economy is huge. "Another fact that the economy and especially the textile sector will be positively affected by this year's Eid al-Adha is that the feast coincides with the new seasonal collections," Küçük noted. "Interestingly, people living in the suburbs of İstanbul, more specifically the low and middle-income group, spend more than those with a higher income. For instance, a group of people from the district of Esenler [a low-income neighborhood] allocate a higher percentage of their budget to Eid spending than people living in Bakırköy. [Religious] customs are more commonly observed among low-income people," Küçük said.


/World Bulletin/