Department of Economics
University of Dhaka
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF DAY-TO-DAY
EXPENSES OF A RICKSHAW PULLER:
The Impact of Covid-19 & Inflation
Principles Of Macroeconomics
[Econ 102]
Prepared By- Submitted To-
Name: Maliha Zabin MD. Saiful Islam
Roll: SN-135-076 Lecturer
Section: A Dept. of Economics
Session: 2020-21 University of Dhaka
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Macroeconomics Assignment
Topic:
The Impact of Covid-19 & Inflation in The Life of a Rickshaw Puller.
Introduction: Over the past few years, the abrupt outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has
seriously affected the economy of Bangladesh. Though people irrespective of class and creed
has suffered due to the pandemic, it has caused the most damage to the lower-class people
who live hand to mouth. As we just began to recover from the economic setback, prices of all
goods and services are rising rapidly in recent times. The persistent rise in goods and services
is called Inflation. The current inflation rate in Bangladesh is 5.65%. Inflation lowers the
value of money as well as the purchasing power of people. In the following survey, we would
try to explore and analyze the impacts of covid-19 and inflation on the life of a rickshaw
puller of Bangladesh.
Survey: The following information is collected from a rickshaw puller near TSC. The
rickshaw puller was selected randomly.
Name: Abdus Samad.
Age: 53
Present Address: Bosila.
Hometown: Pirganj, Rangpur.
Family: 6 Members. Wife, 2 sons, 1 daughter and mother.
Type of Migration: Rural-urban migration.
Interview:
➢ How long have you been working as a rickshaw-puller in Dhaka?
Reply: For almost 25 years. I used to pull rickshaw in rangpur first, then I came to
Dhaka around 20 years ago and pulling rickshaw since then.
➢ Would you brief a little about your household and family?
Reply: Yes, sure. My family lives in Rangpur. I have 3 children. My wife is a home-
maker. My old mother also lives with us. We have our own house there in a village
named kazipara. We also have a few cattle and a small pond beside the house. I am
the only wage earner of my family.
➢ Do your children have access to education?
Reply: Yes. All of my children are admitted to nearby govt. primary and high school.
My daughter is in 9th grade, one of my sons is in 5th grade and another is in 2nd grade.
➢ Is pulling rickshaw is your sole source of earning?
Reply: Yes.
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➢ Do you pull rickshaw the whole year round?
Reply: Yes, mostly.
➢ How much do you earn daily on average?
Reply: Around 1000 tk.
➢ What was your average daily income before the Covid-19 pandemic?
Reply: Around 700-800 tk per day. It has increased now.
➢ What was your average daily income during the Covid-19 pandemic?
Reply: I didn’t pull rickshaw for the first 3 months. After that, I used to make around
400-700 tk per day.
➢ Would you brief a little about your day-to-day expenses?
Reply: My housing rent costs about 150 tk per day, I send 4000 tk to my family every
week. Food and survival costs around 250 tk per day now.
➢ Do you make any savings?
Reply: In the last couple of months, I could roughly save up 1500 tk per month.
➢ What is your take on the recent price-hike?
Reply: Price of food, clothing and all other things have increased quite a lot recently. I
could save around 2000-2500 tk every month before the price-hike. I even could send
more money to family. Living in Dhaka has become very much expensive.
➢ Why did you come to Dhaka years ago?
Reply: My income I used to make in Rangpur was not sufficient enough to provide
my family. Expenses increased further when I had my children. That’s why I moved
to Dhaka to make a better earning.
Impact of Covid-19 in his life: In the beginning of the pandemic, when the lockdown was
imposed, Mr. Samad could not make any money for almost a week, so he went back to his
native village. He had been in his village for the next two months. Meanwhile, all his savings
were spent and he had to sell some of his cattle. His mother had fallen severely ill but he
could not manage proper treatment and medicine for her. Further education of his children
was at stake. Their daily necessities had been very difficult to meet. Mr. Samad had no other
choice but to come back Dhaka again for earning money. For the next couples of months, his
nominal income was very poor and he had no real income apparently. When the lockdown
was imposed again in the 2nd wave of the pandemic, his daily income started to increase.
During that lockdown, his financial stability started to return back. Both of his nominal and
real income increased. He finally could provide well to his family again. So, his earning had
increased after the pandemic period and his real income had also increased.
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Impact of Inflation in his life: The recent inflation affected him and his family very harshly.
Increasing price of food, oil etc. has made his day-to-day life difficult. Mr. Samad has cut
down on his meals. He cannot afford to have both breakfast and lunch, so he has opted for a
brunch around 12pm, which is the only fulfil meal of his day. He doesn’t buy his groceries
from the market anymore, rather he waits for the food aid from TCB. He has some mild
health issues but he doesn’t buy anymore medicines for himself. Ongoing treatment of his
ailing mother has also become very difficult to continue. His family cannot buy sufficient
nutritious food for the children. The children don’t have necessary books and stuff for school
and their study is hampered. He thinks of marrying off his daughter soon so he is trying to
save money for that. His older son recently got into working in a tea-stall after school time.
It's been a long time he could not take his family or children to any park because that’s just
another extra expense. He used to take his family to the cinema hall during Eid but that also
could not be possible this year. He hasn’t bought any clothing for him or his family this year.
His children got very upset when he could not buy new dresses for them in the last Eid. Mr.
Samad can realize that he cannot buy the same amount of goods he could a few months ago
with the same money. Survival in Dhaka has become much more expensive and his
purchasing power is lowering day by day. His real income has also declined and he could
barely hold any money for savings. Mr. Samad is very much worried about the upcoming
days if the price-hike remains rising as it is right now.
Conclusion: The pandemic and recent inflation has created a great havoc in the economy of
our country. It has caused immense sufferings in the life of people with lower income. People
like rickshaw pullers, day labourers are cutting down on meals, denying necessary treatment.
The rising prices of goods and services have declined the purchasing power of people. Value
of money is lowering because of inflation. The poor are getting poorer day by day. It is high
time the govt. imposed new fiscal policies to balance the macroeconomic agents of the
economy to control this inflation.
