Businesses rebound, life must go on

Finally, Covid-19 is apparently on its way out after taking thousands of lives and destroying hundreds of families in the country. The wheels of economy have been moving slowly since February 2020 as life came to a standstill in the pandemic. The traumatised nation prayed in silence to the Almighty for protection against the devilish virus. The devastation it left behind will never be mended and those souls we lost will never come back to us. 

Shutting down businesses to stay safe from infection has taken its toll on the citizens. The fallout was economic hardship of the worst kind ever faced by the people of the country. The people of Bangladesh are now waiting to start their life with new vigor as family members of many lived in a state of semi starvation for the last two years. It seems their prayers have been answered by the Almighty finally. Businesses have started to open their closed shutters, and owners are doing the last minute cleaning, polishing and inventory checkup. Life must go on.       

When school bells began to chime after two years, excited children ran around their favorite school ground wearing masks. After a long shutdown of almost two years because of the ravages of Covid-19 infection, primary, secondary and higher secondary schools opened on a limited scale to resume in-person classes like the pre-pandemic days.

One could see happiness and enthusiasm writ large on the faces of both teachers and students as they could come back to their favourite educational institute after such a long time. Students were welcome by teachers with sticks of flowers. After a long time boys and girls could play outdoors to their hearts’ content.  Afterwards they washed their hands with soap and entered classrooms.

As per instructions, students sat following the ‘one student one bench’ rule. Students beamed with joy when asked how they felt.  They said they were looking forward to attending real life classes instead of virtual ones and sit for examinations in the classroom in a traditional manner. Parents looked relieved too as schools opened after the long gap as many of them were getting concerned regarding the mental health of their growing children.

Previously we used to use the terms like ‘Gourmets’ or ‘Gluttons’ or ‘Gastronomes’ to mean the food lovers amidst us, who always surf restaurants in search of good food. They proudly announce that they ‘live to eat.’ Nowadays we call them “Foodies” and this class of people is overjoyed watching restaurants are back with delicious food platters to please their palates. Yes, restaurants, cafes, canteens, cafeterias, food courts and hotels are opening up every day. These businesses suffered huge loss in the last two years so they are eager to start anew without further ado.  

Ride sharing services are back on the roads with cars, three-wheelers and motorcycles to the relief of commuters. More female commuters now prefer motorcycles to crowded buses to travel within the city limits. Citizens could feel how important these services were when the vehicles remained off roads during the pandemic. Good news is banks are open from 10 to 5 like the pre-covid days. It makes transactions possible without much of a hassle.

People have started to go to the kitchen markets to satisfy their old habit of buying fresh vegetables, fish and meat. Shopping malls are also back to business full time. These well maintained outlets offer a cleaner shopping experience to those who do not mind paying a little bit extra. Shopping in style is the name of the game here.  

The invigorating shopping spree among the affluent is bringing back broad smile on the faces of the shopkeepers in expensive shops. As travelling to the nearby shopping destinations like Kolkata, Bangkok, Nepal or Malaysia is still difficult, local mega shops are seeing more customers with fat purses stepping in.

Many private offices engaged in small trading had operated with 25 per cent of the original staff members to survive the pandemic. The owners are happy to see economic activities all around once again. They are now trying to bring back vibrancy to their business.

The same story is applicable for small manufacturers and handicraft makers. Lathe machines in engineering workshops and embroidery machines in handicraft factories are running once again to generate revenue.

A World Bank report says that “nearly every business in the world has been affected by COVID-19—in different ways. While one-fourth of companies saw sales falling 50 per cent in October-January from pre-pandemic levels, a third said their sales increased or stayed the same. To capture the impact of the pandemic on firms’ performance, the World Bank launched ongoing surveys with more than 120,000 firms in over 60 countries. The assessment is expected to help inform recovery efforts. The WB report says “developing countries have introduced multiple support programs, but businesses most affected by the shock—small firms and those in poorer countries—were the least likely to receive government support.”

 According to WB, about 25 percent of the most-affected businesses worldwide reported a drop in sales of 72 percent in the early months of the pandemic and of 50 percent in the following months.

In Bangladesh, media reports say that nearly 70 per cent of the urban workers lost jobs during the pandemic. And over 96 per cent of the MSMEs suffered economic losses during this period. BIDS reported that 13 per cent of the people in the country lost jobs because of Covid-19.

The people of Bangladesh are known to be highly resilient to adversities of various kinds, both natural and man-made. They proved it in 1971; during major natural calamities and also during the ravages of Covid-19. With a little support, they can bounce back to rebuild their lives. With the deadly virus receding gradually life will definitely rebound.  But the role of the government here is of utmost importance. The medium, small and micro level enterprises will need financial support to hire workers, buy raw materials and restart their factories. The export-oriented factories will need extra attention as they earn foreign currency for the country. Some specially formed committees should visit these businesses to assess their financial needs and advise the government accordingly.  

The writer is Associate Editor at The Business Post