Business

Traders resorting to new markets

March 6, 2020 7:18 am

There are now fears that Fijians will soon have to fork out extra to pay for goods and services as the impact of COVID-19 continues to rattle the world.

Local Businesses in the country say they have started feeling the pinch of the outbreak because of the disruption to China’s supply chain and manufacturing network.

Economist Dr Rohit Kishore says as the world struggles to contain the COVID-19 virus, our economy has not been spared.

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“Starting from last year and the beginning of this year there was a global economic downturn. That’s the major impact COVID-19 is going to have.”

Dr Kishore says as the factories in China have shut down, traders will now have to resort to new markets which may come with added costs and will put more price pressure on low-income earners.

“If we put price pressure on them they will have to fork out their savings. There is already less there and they probably will have nothing left.”

He adds that the threats to the global outlook have increased.

Meanwhile, the Suva Retailers Association says Fiji is not immune to the effects of global market performance

Association President Vinay Kumar says the most important thing is to contain the virus which will bring more confidence in the consumers and the business community.