Businesses, suppliers struggle to stay afloat
MANY firms have closed down or laid off staff due to the ongoing economic effects of the pandemic, representatives of sectors ranging from farming to tourism have warned.
They spoke to Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs about the huge challenges businesses and their suppliers are facing to stay afloat.
Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Shopkeepers and Artisans general coordinator Hürrem Tulga stated that more than 5,000 businesses closed after the last lockdown in the TRNC at the start of this year and that this number “continues to increase daily”.
He claimed that 40,000 people have lost their jobs, far higher than the official number of people registered as unemployed, which stood at 14,950 at the end of 2020, the most recent figure available.
Cyprus Turkish Travel Agents Association (Kıtsab) president Orhan Tolun stated that 170 agencies are currently closed, at least 15 have applied to the association to sell their agency, and that unemployment has risen by 70 percent.
Expressing that Kıtsab have made two announcements to vaccinate personnel working in travel agencies against Covid-19, Mr Tolun said that only 250 employees responded to this call and that “people had lost hope”.
Mr Tolun explained that the state is treating travel agencies as “open” but “in reality they have been closed for a year and a half” and that they cannot organise tours, issue tickets or bring tourists to the TRNC or send travellers from here abroad.
Stating that the authorities are constantly declaring “we will open tourism” but have “somehow been unable to do this”, Mr Tolun said that requesting a PCR test from travellers who are double vaccinated, “expensive flight tickets” and other similar conditions are causing problems.
Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association (KTİMB) head Cafer Gürcafer said that contractors must be members of the association and renew their licences every year in order to “work in accordance with the law”, but that of the 457 KTİMB members only 157 have renewed their licences in 2021.
Restaurateurs Association head Salih Kayım said that 25 percent of businesses such as restaurants and cafes – approximately 200-250 establishments – were closed during the pandemic.
He said that most of the restaurants have started reopening due to the easing of restrictions and because they are mostly family-run businesses.
Mr Kayım explained that it is easier for family-owned restaurants to “take a break and start up again” but businesses in rural areas in particular have struggled, as they depend more on Sunday trade.
Market Traders Union leader Yenal Garabli stated that 80 percent of his organisation’s members “began to have a very difficult time after the closures during the pandemic” but there were not many who “closed their shops and they continued to fight despite everything”.
He added that most marketers are also producers and that “if they quit trading, they would not be able to do any other job so they are trying to endure”.
Cyprus Turkish Tour Guides Association president Dener Öymen noted that a “majority” of the 226 registered tour guides have had to find work in other sectors because of the lack of tourists.
Pointing out that they are continuing to train tour guides who have not turned to other jobs, Mr Öymen said: “We are ready for tomorrow, but it’s not clear what will happen tomorrow.”
Cyprus Turkish Construction Sub-contractors Union president Osman Amca explained that because materials needed for construction are purchased in bulk, it is “not easy for sub-contractors to quit their job”.
Expressing that the biggest problems experienced in the construction sector are a shortage of labour and debts to the state, he said that the number of labourers has decreased from 10,000 to “around 2,500 to 3,000” since the pandemic started.
This has had a knock-on effect for construction projects: “They won’t be completed on time because labourers can’t be found in the country because they are returning back to their countries,” he said.
Mr Amca added that there are 26,000 completed properties that are “ready for sale and waiting for buyers from abroad” but that these potential buyers “have not been able to come [to North Cyprus] due to the restrictions and therefore sales could not be made”.
Public Transport Operators Association president Fuat Topaloğlu noted that 40 percent
of bus drivers have “left the profession due to the pandemic”.
Mr Topaloğlu stated that the lack of tourists, the fall in the value of the Turkish lira, and casinos using their own vehicles to transport customers, are among some of the “obstacles” for bus drivers. He said that bus drivers in rural areas
in particular have had to quit the profession.
Cyprus Turkish Livestock Producers and Breeders Association head Mustafa Naimoğulları stated that many animal farmers have “given up” on the sector due to the pandemic, foreign exchange rates and increased costs and that most of them are “trying to survive by downsizing”.
Some are having to sell their animals to pay off debts, he added, accusing the state of being responsible for the problems due to “unplanned policies”.
Lefkoşa Taxi Drivers Association head Menteş Öztürk said that taxi firms with three vehicles have “reduced this number to one” and that “many of them have come to the point of quitting the sector”.
“They are earning just 4050TL a day, foreign students give each other rides, and there are unlicensed taxis in the country,” he said.
“I’m fed up. We work so hard, we do our best, maybe we don’t even take a holiday because there may be work, but everything is getting worse. The government needs to pass a law against unlicensed taxi drivers as soon as possible.”
The head of the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Commerce (KTTO), Turgay Deniz, said that businesses owed a total of 12 billion TL before the pandemic and this number has now reached 20 billion TL.
He said that only 50 new companies have registered with the KTTO since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, out of a total membership of around 19,000 employers.
“Even though they are not closed, businesses are trying to survive by borrowing,” he warned. “This was necessary, but there is a problem when they reach the point of repayment.”
Business loans should be restructured, Mr Deniz added, and business borrowers should not face legal proceedings for loans taken out due to the pandemic.