Turkey’s retailers are calling on the authorities to provide tax discounts and to reintroduce a scheme for employees put on short working hours to help deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dünya newspaper said on Monday.
Shopping malls should also reduce the rents to correspond with a decline in opening hours, sector representatives said at a meeting organised by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO), according to Dünya.
Turkey’s government has cut back opening times for non-essential shops as part of measures to help deal with a spike in coronavirus infections. The number of daily cases spiked to a record of more than 60,000 last week. Some top medical practitioners have warned of a furth rise in infections should the government fail to take further steps.
Revenue for retailers has fallen by 70 percent as weekly opening times dropped to as few as 35 hours from 84 hours. That has forced them to side line 60 percent of the workforce, Dünya reported.
Ahval