Eight out of 10 TRNC shopkeepers have fallen into debt because of pandemic, TL
EIGHT out of 10 shopkeepers in North Cyprus have fallen into debt because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the weakening value of the Turkish lira, it was said this week.
The TL has been hitting record figures recently, with £1 sterling now worth around 12.3TL, compared to roughly 8TL when the first coronavirus cases were detected in the TRNC in March 2020.
Hürrem Tulga of the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Artisans and Shopkeepers (KTEZO), speaking ahead of a large protest on Thursday, called for loans given to small businesses to help them through the lockdowns to be restructured
“Tourism has already been handled. Spring has been lost in terms of students, let’s not allow any more losses,” he said.
Underlining that “nothing has changed” in the economic situation for shop owners, Mr Tulga said that KTEZO members are now pinning their hopes on the reopening of the border with South Cyprus so that customers spending in euros can once again shop in the TRNC.
He said that while bringing the number of Covid-19 cases under control has created economic “movement” it has not produced the “desired result” due to the weakening TL.
“Eighty percent of shopkeepers are currently in debt and this continues to increase in the face of the depreciation of the Turkish lira,” he said.
“They have yet to recover when it comes to rent debt, bank debt and public debt. They decided to protest on Thursday and their demand is for debt restructuring.”
Indicating that more than 5,000 shops have permanently closed during the pandemic period, Mr Tulga continued: “Public transport was the most affected [sector] during the pandemic. As well as that, the Suriçi [Lefkoşa walled city] shopkeepers and shops around universities were among those most badly affected.
“There is a decrease of up to 40 percent in imports, which shows us how much purchasing power has dropped. Shopkeepers cannot [afford to] replace the goods they sell today.”