‘More than 5,000 firms have closed since start of the pandemic’
THOUSANDS of businesses in North Cyprus have gone bust since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic two and a half years ago, it has been claimed.
The assertion was made by the Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Shopkeepers and Artisans (KTEZO) chairman Mahmut Kanber.
He issued a written statement claiming that “more than 5,000 businesses have closed since the pandemic” and that “the number of unemployment benefit records is now around 50,000”.
Mr Kanber said that there are currently more than 10,000 active smalland medium-sized businesses in the country and that “even though it does not make any economic sense”, business owners are “borrowing, mortgaging [their property] or selling their own assets so they can stay afloat”.
He said while most of the service sector’s revenues are in Turkish lira, its expenses are in foreign currency or indexed to foreign currency, which has contributed to their hardship due to the fall in the value of the TL against currencies such as the pound, euro and dollar.
“Business owners did not receive grants during the pandemic,” Mr Kanber said. “The leaders of the country mercilessly encouraged them to borrow and dressed this up as an economic package that was described as a solution.”