Sales of goods and commodities at Dhaka city’s sprawling street markets have come down to a half during the pandemic, causing the disappearance of many of the hawkers from the scene, stakeholders claim.
Analysts add the informal businesses that involve foods, clothing and various consumer items have mostly incurred disproportionate losses in the past two years.
Despite the reopening and recovery of the economy in recent months, leaders of the vendors lament that these vulnerable people could neither fight back nor have they been provided with stimulus support to revitalise their business.
The number of hawkers in the capital city – believed to be half a million until the pandemic hit – has halved, according to them.
However, there is no study on how many of them have been part of reverse migration to villages or joined the army of the new poor during the pandemic.
Azharul Islam, a street vendor in his early 40s, is one of those vendors. He says he can earn a maximum of Tk 500 a day from selling garment items in Gulistan area. His pre-pandemic earning was more than Tk 1,000 a day.
“I am not in a position to run my family with this income,” the bread earner of the family of seven told The Financial Express. “How shall I meet educational costs of my four children?”
One, who started the street shop in 2001, Azharul mentioned that he has already lost his working capital and taken loans from his close relatives. “I received no support to survive since the pandemic hit our business hard,” he pointed out.
Their leaders said the countrywide number of hawkers would have been 1.6 million until the pandemic. Of them, about 300,000 ran their businesses in the areas under Dhaka North City Corporation and 200,000 in Dhaka South City Corporation areas.
“The sales at street markets have declined to a half. The omicron variant of the coronavirus hit the country, hit us most,” said Arif Chowdhury, President of the National Hawkers’ Federation. “Most of the street vendors are struggling and have finished their savings by this time.”
However, he mentioned that only those who are selling winter clothes have gained slightly from the economic activities.
The hawkers’ leader claimed that different hawkers’ organizations had gone to relevant government offices and two city corporations during the lockdown and after the reopening, ‘but nothing encouraging happened to their lives’.
Practically, customers are hardly buying products from street shops as they themselves are facing acute financial crisis, according to Abul Hossain, President of Bangladesh Hawkers’Songram Parishad.
“Female customers who were major customers for the roadside businesses, are rarely seen to buy products due to the situation,” he said.
Roadside fast food shops were also shut down from time to time, he added.
A wrong perception about the recovery from pandemic shocks is created, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Research Director Dr Khandker Golam Moazzem told The FE, adding that the informal sectors could not make a rebound like those of the formal sectors such as readymade garments (RMG).
He explained that many of the street vendors are disappearing from the scene and self-employed people are being forced to do downgraded works.
“They need constant cash flow, and with their working capital being very limited, they need it badly to run the business that has been disrupted now,” he added.
As all businesses are suffering, President of both Bangladesh Hawkers Federation and Hawkers League MA Kashem said the process of hawkers’ rehabilitation should be accelerated. “Hawkers should be taken under the government stimulus package to protect their livelihoods and save their family members from misery,” he said.
Hawkers’ leaders believe about Tk 9.0 billion is extorted from street vendors in the capital alone every year.
“People who are involved in extortion regularly should be arrested,” Mr Kashem said.
Dr Moazzem insisted that the government should announce extended stimulus package for the street businesses. “Two city corporations may also help them and protect their families from an uncertain future,” he added.
