SWABI, Aug 25: The dwindling purchasing power of ordinary people due to soaring utility bills and prices of almost all commodities is clearly visible, as traders say they are yet to see rush of customers for Eid shopping.

Traders told this correspondent on Thursday that they had been facing a slump in their business and unlike previous years they were receiving fewer customers even when the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramazan had started and Eid was just round the corner.

Mohammad Taj, a cloth trader in the famous Link road Swabi bazaar, said that most of the people in the bazaar were just doing window shopping.

However, some traders were optimistic that the shopping would pick up soon. They said that people had already spent the salaries they got in the start of August on buying different items for Sehr and Iftar, leaving little for Eid shopping.

“They will receive the next salary on Aug 26 well before Eid and after that we expect the rush of customers,” said a ready-made garments trader Shaukat Ali. —By Muqaddam Khan