Al Amin :
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are experiencing acute financial hardship amid the ongoing countrywide strict lockdown.
The government enforced the strict lockdown and banned non-essential business activities from July 1 as the Delta variant of the Covid-19 is sweeping across the country.
The small businesses have been feeling the heat of the pandemic-induced economic slowdown for the last one and a half years and now they apprehended that it could leave them without income for a long period and may lead to partial starvation.
The sector insiders said many of the MSMEs have already been either bankrupted or pushed into a debt-trapped due to the pandemic.
The prolongation of the current situation will impose an additional financial burden on them and deepen their plights, they said.
Amin Uddin, a shop owner at Nawabpur Road, told The New Nation, “My monthly expenditure including shop-rent and workers’ wages is over taka two lakh. If the shop remains shut down for a long time, it will be very difficult to bear the expenditure.”
“No other way will remain but to take additional loans to survive,” he added.
Like me, hundreds of the owners across the country are now facing difficulty to meet their shops’ and families’ expenditure, Amin said.
“The lockdown completely wiped out my income ahead of Eid. I don’t know how I will buy the groceries,” said Mohammad Masud, a vendor in the capital’s Jatrabari area.
“My daughter has been sick for five days and my son for three days. But I couldn’t take them to hospitals as I have no money,” he continued.
According to the Bangladesh Shop Owners’ Association (BSOA), there are over 54 lakh wholesalers and retailers in the country. They are losing over Tk 1.74 crore everyday due to their shops remain closed.
Helal Uddin, President of the (BSOA), told this correspondent, “The entrepreneurs are counting losses and we are unable to pay shop-rent as the shops closed due to the lockdown.”
Following this situation, the government must exempt Value-Added Tax (VAT) on establishment fair and create scope to pay utility bills in phases to revive the sector, he demanded.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association (BROA) said that over 30 percent restaurants have already bankrupted and the rest of the owners are counting losses.
The debt-burden is widening day-by-day as around 98 per cent owners are unable to pay house rent, the association said.
Imran Hasan Sumon, Secretary General of the AROA, said, “The hotel-restaurant sector is the worst victim of the pandemic. Debt-burden is widening. Many owners are being failed to pay establishment fare and utility bills.”
“Under this circumstance, we will not be survived, if the government does not pay attention to the sector,” he added.
“The government should exempt Value-Added Tax (VAT) on establishment fare and surcharge on utility bills,” he demanded.
