‘Where will the money come from?’

Since April 1, Farhana Nazira is having trouble sleeping.

The men's Panjabi boutique she owns at Shah Ali Market at Mirpur-1 in Dhaka has been shut since the last week of March, when it would have been brimming with customers looking for an outfit for the Pahela Baishakh and Eid-ul-Fitr.

This year, both Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bengali New Year and a cause for much merriment, and Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest festival of the year for the Muslim-majority country, are taking place just a month apart.

The two occasions contribute to more than 60 per cent of annual sales of most of the clothing industry, so Nazira and many others in her industry went big this year: they invested a fair bit on making ready a vast range of collection and stock.

All those hopes have now been shattered to a million pieces with the outbreak of the lethal coronavirus in Bangladesh, which has necessitated a countrywide shutdown since March 26.

Even before shutdown, Nazira's sales were subdued as customers stayed away once news broke on March 8 of confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in Bangladesh.

"I could not give the full salaries to my 12 salesman and production workers for March or clear the bills of fabric suppliers and artisans and I don't know where the money will come from. I am close to bankruptcy."

And this is the first time in 13 years that Nazira, a university graduate, has been this cash-strapped, even though her boutique went through periods of lull in sales previously.

Her clothing store would register Tk 12,000-Tk 15,000 in sales daily when things were normal, and the annual turnover would stand close to Tk 60 lakh.

Nazira's plight is not an isolated case; some 5,000 small and medium local boutiques are in the same boat as her and might eventually have to take the bitter decision to shutter their stores.

Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh (FEAB) earlier estimated loss of Tk 2,000 crore in Baishakhi sales due to the coronavirus outbreak.

At the same time, payment of wages and salaries of employees and artisans for three months has become uncertain. The amount is nearly Tk 1,500 crore, according to FEAB.

"We are closed when we are supposed to get high returns from our investment," said Mursalin Ahmed, owner of Kapor-E-Bangla.

With five stores in Dhaka and outside, Kapor-E-Bangla designed clothes to bank on the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 17 and celebration of Independence Day onMarch 26 apart from Pahela Baishakh and Eid.

"Eid is not even looking promising now," said the owner of Kapor-E-Bangla that could pay 30 per cent salaries to its staff for March.

The Muslim festival, which is due in the latter part of May this year, generates Tk 4,000 crore-Tk 5,000 crore in sales for local fashion houses, according to FEAB President Shaheen Ahmmed.

"We cannot even imagine what lies ahead for us," he said.

Md Helal Uddin, chairman of Bangladesh Shop Owners Association, said there are 56 lakh enterprises below 15 employees in the country.

Altogether these businesses employ nearly one crore people.

"We have owners of many shops who meet day to day family expenses based on daily sales. Now all is stuck up. All of us are suffering from a dearth of cash," he said, adding that shops and small businesses would be struggle to pay the salary for the current month too.

He urged the government to give low-cost loans to micro and small businesses to tide them over. 

Akhteruzzaman Khan, president of Bangladesh Hotel Restaurant Sweets Bakery Workers Union, said workers are in a serious hardship as most of them did not get wages of March.

The government needs to introduce ration to free 25 lakh workers in the trade from the risk of hunger during coronavirus crisis, he said.

The owners of Farhana Fashion and Kapor-E-Bangla are looking at the Tk 20,000 crore stimulus package launched by the government to provide working capital to finance small and medium enterprises, including cottage-based businesses, to ride out the troubled waters.

"We need immediate bank support so that we can keep our employees," said Ahmed of Kapor-E-Bangla, while urging the government to issue guidelines urgently so that firms can apply.

Nazira already inquired about the bank she works with. But she is uncertain whether she would get any support at the end.

"There will be a lot of pressure of application in banks as all will try. So the question is whether I will get the finance and or not. If yes, how much would I get? I am really in tension."