The Confederation of Andalusian merchants, Comercio Andalucía, has affirmed, through a statement, that 2020 “has been a disastrous year” for local commerce, when the negative consequences of the 2008 economic crisis have not yet disappeared.
According to Andalusian merchants, in 2020 there has been “the perfect storm” for a sector that came from complicated years and for which the total closure decreed by the state of alarm was the final highlight.
Commerce Andalusia has ensured that not even the reopening, after the first state of alarm, has been enough to improve the sales of the local commerce, since the situation of uncertainty generated by the Covid-19 has caused consumption to retract and fall billing at unthinkable levels.
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In this sense, Andalusian merchants have stated that sales in commerce have fallen by 50% in 2020 compared to 2019, which is a very negative figure for a sector that is vital for the economy of Andalusia.
Commerce Andalusia recalled that a similar decline already occurred in the previous crisis, although it was not in a single year, but in the period from 2007 to 2014, so the current situation can be described as “very virulent” and very little time has had devastating effects.
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Along these lines, Andalusian merchants have said that a savage reconversion is taking place in the sector, which, according to their forecasts, could destroy 25% of the commercial fabric.
Commerce Andalusia is convinced that this situation is unsustainable for an economy such as Andalusia, since commerce generates 23% of employment, more than 400,000 jobs of which 60% are occupied by women, and has a volume of business of 85,000 million euros, 11.5% of the GDP of Andalusia.
For this reason, Andalusian merchants have insisted on the need to have a direct aid plan as the only viable formula to re-float a sector that is made up of 140,000 companies, 30% of the total number of companies in Andalusia, and 170,000 establishments. .
Finally, Comercio Andalucía has affirmed that, without these direct aid, “we are doomed to see local commerce disappear as we know it today, which will cause very negative effects on the structuring and social cohesion of the territory, both of the cities as in the rural world “.
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