‘61,736 shopkeepers went bankrupt in Turkey in the first eight months of 2021’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Vice Chair and Malatya MP Veli Ağbaba has criticized the state agency Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) statistics indicating a 21.7-percent annual growth in Turkey's economy in the second quarter of 2021.

"It was alleged that Turkey's economy has grown. We call it an allegation because neither the shopkeepers nor the companies were able to benefit from this growth," Veli Ağbaba has said and announced that "in this period, at least 61,736 shopkeepers went out of business."

According to the MP, "from January to August 2021, at least 48 thousand companies and individual businesses shut down by going bankrupt."

Noting that 35 percent of the shopkeepers' bankruptcies happened in June and August, when the normalization began, Ağbaba has said:

"The shopkeepers who thought that things would be looking up as the lockdown ended are still pressed by overdue debts. Constantly made to open and close their shops as part of the outbreak measures, not supported with grants based on loss of income and made dependent on bank loans, shopkeepers are having difficulty keeping their heads above water."

According to the Merchants and Artisans Registry Gazette, which has been cited by the main opposition CHP MP, the number of shopkeepers who went bankrupt in Turkey by cancellation of profession and registry increased to 61,736 in the first eight months of this year.

21,731 of them happened in June and August 2020.

On the other hand, the data of the Merchants and Artisans Registry Gazette and the Merchants and Artisans Confederation of Turkey (TESK) has also shown that the number of shopkeepers and artisans who were registered decreased by 28 percent in a year to 185,126.

Cancellation of registration and profession, January-August 2021

According to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) Trade Registry, 9,105 companies in total were liquidated from January to July 2021, 18,691 companies and individual businesses were closed and 21,240 companies were ex officio shut down. Therefore, 48 thousand companies and individual businesses were closed in this period.

Commenting on the data, CHP Ağbaba has said, "So, while Turkey's economy supposedly grew by 21.7 percent, the share of shopkeepers and companies in this growth was bankruptcy." (DŞ/SD)