“THE ECONOMY HAS STOPPED” AS GIRNE SHOPS CLOSE
A BUSINESS leader warned this week that the corona virus shutdown had left “a big hole in the economy,” with the Girne region in particular facing big losses
Cyprus Turkish Businessman’s Association president Enver Mamülcü, said: “There has been a 70 per cent fall in work output due to the corona virus outbreak.”
Explaining that the Cyprus Turkish Businessman’s Association he heads has 680 members across all sectors, Mr Mamülcü added: “We undertook an average calculation based on the input we received from our members. The Girne region has particularly been hit with lower work ouput of 70 per cent, because this is the region where there are concentrations of hotels, restaurants and higher education institutions.
“This has left a big hole in the economy.No tourism, no foreign students and no production is the reason why there has been such a massive drop in work output.
“Furthermore, the government has focused more on protecting the public sector – because they see them as voters. It is unfortunate that they have neglected the private sector and have not helped.
“What must now be done is to focus on increasing production in the citrus and agricultural sector, and focusing on our own diaspora as well as expat and European property buyers in the UK, Russia, Scandinavian countries and Middle East.
“There is also a need for the government to offer financial assistance programmes to small to medium sized businesses to help them get back on their feet,” he said.
Mr Mamülcüler said that the debts, credits, and bills of many could not be paid during the new corona virus outbreak. He said the state, in allowing people to take out more loans during this period, had “made matters much worse.
“If you introduce more debits on top of a dire situation, the situation will become much worse thereafter,” he said. “The Central Bank therefore needs to contribute”.
He said the “economic wheels have stopped. Being able to work in the country has decreased. with the halt of the locomotive sector of tourism, and education sectors. This has shown us that it is not sustainable to have an economy based on these two sectors. . .it has resulted in the entire wheels of the economy coming to a stop.
“On top of this, with the health pandemic and the devaluation of the Turkish Lira against foreign currency, the negative economic affects has been felt two-fold,” he said.
He called on “incentives” to be given for “local production” in the private sector.
He also said that “goods and services has become very expensive” because the fall of the lira had pushed up the cost of imports.
He called on “focus to be put on real estate property” sector by “using the the fact that the TRNC has had a clean sheet in the Covid19 after successfully stamping out the virus”.
He said Russian nationals who bought properties in the Greek Cypriot South were “complaining of high taxes” there, and said it was “therefore important to use this as an opportunity as part of the marketing strategy,” in the TRNC.