Jordan – Weak employment outlook and rising consumer prices drive growth at Amman’s outdoor s Ras al-Ain clothing market

Location: Amman – Jordan

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:04:18

Voice: Natural

Source: A24 Amman

Restriction: A24 subscribers

Date: 03/10/2022

Storyline:

Ongoing repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and the food inflation sparked by the Ukraine war are increasingly driving Jordanian consumers to look for bargains.

In Jordan, the unemployment rate reached 22.6 percent during the second quarter of 2022, according to the Department of Statistics. The Kingdom’s CPI witnessed an increase of 20.97 percent this year.

But the Ras al-Ain clothing market in downtown Amman is a bright spot for shoppers facing a dark economic outlook.

The Amman municipality established the  market in the Ras al-Ain downtown area in 2014. It has been a haven for the poor and the low-income. Increasingly middle-class families are seen here scouring for international clothing labels at wholesale prices.

Wael Rabihat, head of the municipality department that oversees trading at Ras al-Ain, told A24 that the market attracts 100,000 shoppers on Thursday and Friday of each week.

Shot list:

Soundbite (Eddy from the Philippines – Customer):

“This place is fun. We just got here. I think if you cannot find what you are looking for here, you won’t be able to find it anywhere else.”

– Soundbite (Khaled Al-Masry – customer):

“It is an opportunity to find the cheapest clothes for boys and men. Clothes here are cheaper than in foreign stores.”

Soundbite (Bashir Abu Ali – merchant):

“There are European, British and American clothing with international brands. Some are expensive and some are cheap. Everyone can buy from the market.”

Soundbite (Wael Rbeihat – Head of the Follow-up and Inspection Department at Ras Al-Ain Market):

“The market consists of 590 stalls distributed by the representative of the governor and a committee from the Amman Municipality. Every week on Thursday and Friday, about 100,000 citizens of all the poor and rich across Amman come to it. It has goods that suit everyone.”