They warn that more than 80% of the business has no or minimal sales

The Red de Comerciantes Unidos, a virtual community with about 300 businesses in the province, issued a document that ensures that, due to the isolation, more than 80 percent of merchants do not have sales or their activity was reduced to a minimum.

“Except for the sector of sale of food, beverages and essential services, which represents 17.5 percent of businesses and services, the commercial sector has its activities totally paralyzed (31.2 percent) or reduced to a minimum expression (51 , 3 percent) ”, he assured.

After analyzing the fall in activity due to the advance of the Covid-19 virus, the group asked for assistance to avoid the destruction of jobs.

“No one wants to fire employees, we want to pay wages, but we need help imminently to meet the payment of the months of March, April and May with credit lines that we can afford, at a rate of 0 percent to cover 70 percent of wages, with six months grace and commercial overdrafts at a rate of 24 percent, “they indicated.

In this regard, the United Merchants Network recalled that it pays for “the most expensive electric energy in the country”, since Epec applies 50 percent of the gross value added (VAD) “which is the highest in the country”.

The group rejects the idea that policies to activate the economy cannot be implemented while seeking to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

While acknowledging that the national and provincial governments took economic measures to alleviate this crisis, he warned that very few reached the SME trade.