Government should provide relief to traders’ community amid lockdown

So far, coronavirus has claimed 272 lives across Pakistan and has affected more than 13,000 people. Pakistan is struggling to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The federal government has extended the nationwide lockdown until May 9 in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus. However, the number of coronavirus infections is increasing at an alarming rate.

The PTI-led federal government has also announced a relief package for the deserving families and the poor segment of the society. The daily wagers have been the worst affected people from the lockdown.

On the other side, the traders’ community is also badly affected by the extension of the lockdown. The Centre and the provincial governments seem to be failed in providing relief to the traders’ community.

Let’s take an in-depth review regarding the relief to traders’ community provided by the governments.

State Bank

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced a temporary refinance scheme for businesses to support the employment of workers in the face of economic challenges posed by the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

“The core objective of this facility is to incentivize businesses to not lay off their workers during COVID-19 pandemic,” the SBP said in a statement. The SBP designed the scheme to give preference to smaller businesses.

Businesses with a 3-month wage and salary expense of up to Rs200 million will be able to avail the full amount of their expense in financing while those with a 3-month wage and salary expense of greater than Rs500 million will be able to avail up to 50 percent of their expense.

Businesses in the middle category will be able to avail up to 75 percent of their 3 months’ salary and wage expense.

SBP asked banks not to charge any loan processing, credit limit fee, or prepayment penalties for loans under the new scheme.

Under the scheme, a grace period of six months would be allowed to the borrowers while the repayment of the principal amount would be made in two years.

The State Bank has also cut its key interest rate by two percent. The new rate has come down from 11 percent to 9 percent. The interest rate has been reduced keeping in view the coronavirus situation in the country. The interest rate declined by 4.25 percent in one month.

Sindh government issues SOPs for businesses

Despite the rising number of coronavirus cases, Sindh government has allowed reopening the businesses and has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in this regard.

The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were:

– No customer dealing would be allowed at the shops.

– Only online orders would be entertained for the purpose

– The shutter of the shops will remain close all the time except for the delivery of items.

– A list of the shop owners, staffers, and delivery boys should be provided to the provincial government.  

– The list of employees with information should be conveyed to the government.

– Medical record of the employees would be maintained

– In case of coronavirus symptoms in any employee, the concerned business entity would be responsible for the treatment.

– The government would also have the authority to close down any business place where a virus-infected patient had worked or visited.

Traders’ Community on Sindh SOPs

All Karachi Tajir Ittehad refused to implement the SOPs devised by the Sindh government with regards to online businesses.

The traders’ community has claimed that the devised SOPs would only favour 5 percent of the community.

The community further said that the online business SOPs was a technical refusal by the Sindh government to our demands.

Chairman Tajir Ittehad Atiq Mir said that the government has directed the traders to fill and submit almost 600,000 applications to fulfill the new SOPs for online businesses, which is a mammoth task on its own.  

Did government fail to provide relief to traders?

The Centre and the provincial governments seem to be failed in providing relief to traders’ community because no such measure was taken by the governments to facilitate the businesses.

Online business is not favourable for all the traders and change in SBP policy will not favour all the businesses. The government is still claiming that they will provide a package for the small traders, however, no progress has been seen in this regard.

There is a stern need to address the issues of the traders’ community. The business community is declining with each passing day. The government has to provide relief to the small traders in order to stop the decline of country’s economy.