ZAGREB, May 6, 2020 – It will take five years for the Croatian trade sector to recover from the impact of the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) said on Wednesday.
“The public must be aware that the trade sector has borne a heavy burden on its shoulders, without increasing margins or prices, which helped all the citizens in this crisis,” the HGK vice-president for trade, Josip Zaher, said at a meeting of the HGK’s trade association.
Zaher said that retail trade had dropped by 25% in April.
The association’s president Ivica Katavić said: “We’ve been through two difficult months. There have been problems in business, including inspections, shorter business hours and limited entry into the shops. But we managed to keep our heads above water.”
Katavić said that the restrictions that had done the greatest damage were shortened shop opening hours and e-passes allowing travel. “With the lifting of these restrictions, the situation has improved considerably. The situation was most difficult at the start of April, but considering the circumstances we must be satisfied. We are also satisfied with our communication with the HGK, who were at our service,” he added.
The CEO of the Konzum retail chain, Slavko Ledić, said that the sharpest declines had been recorded in large stores. “The key move was to extend opening hours, it was even more important than Sunday trading. The most important thing for us was to have opening hours extended and that we could pay wages,” Ledić said.
The CEO of textile distributor Tekstilpromet, Hrvoje Šimić, drew attention to problems faced by the non-food trade sector, which has 90,000 employees.
“Over a period of 50 days our turnover was zero, while at the same time banks showed no sympathy. Some of the shopping centres also did not prove to be good business partners to Croatian traders because, for example, they sent their invoices for May already in mid-April,” Šimić said.
More economic news can be found in the Business section.
