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During the course of the pandemic, one of the worst hit sectors was commerce as a result of sanitary and capacity restrictions, plus the impossibility of operating during confinements.
However, the arrival of Christmas time gave them a break: sales have increased by almost 20% compared to last year, something that has been reflected in the streets and agglomerations at the entrances to shopping centers.
Manuel Melero, president of the National Chamber of Commerce (CNC), stressed that these days the figures have accompanied the sector, despite the fact that large areas – such as the Metropolitan region and Greater Concepción – are in Phase 2, which implies quarantine on weekends and the closure of non-essential trade on those days.
In conversation with Emol, the union leader, of course, explained that small merchants have not had the same luck. “They stagnated, they have not had a rebound,” he said.
According to figures from the CNC, published in the aforementioned media, the Store sales during the first half of the month grew by 19% if compared with the same date in 2019.
Melero said that many people even advanced their purchases and made them in the first days of December. This, hand in hand with injection of liquidity from the withdrawals of funds from the AFPs plus the delivery of bonds.
“It must be recognized that there is a lot of money on the street, because between the two AFP quotas, the money orders, plus all the subsidies, we have more than US $ 30 billion in the street, “the president of the CNC told Emol.
Finally, with regard to agglomerations, George Lever, Manager of Studies at the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), gave an explanation: “(sanitary) measures hit the sector, which was further aggravated by the massive attendance towards informal commerce, generating sources of contagion that in our opinion counteract the efforts of the health authority ”.
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