Businesses pick up the pieces

Economic activities are finally returning to normal after three weeks of upheaval as both garment and non-garment factories started operations in full swing yesterday, according to industry insiders.

However, the transport of products from factories to different parts of the country has not regained momentum yet.

Businesses are now hoping for better days in the future instead of focusing on the losses incurred during the past three weeks, they said.

"Although our factory is operating in full swing, sales fell drastically as patients are not going to the hospital due to panic," said Monjurul Alam, chief executive officer at Beacon Medicare Limited, a concern of Beacon Pharmaceuticals.

He lamented that they could not even make any shipments over the past three weeks due to the volatile situation. "At the same time, we are unable to release raw materials from the port as port activities are yet to resume in full swing," he added.

"Until the situation becomes normal, business activities will not get momentum," Alam said, adding that other sectors were being similarly impacted by the unstable situation.

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Normalising economy is a top priority

The streets of Bangladesh convulsed with violence and death over the last three weeks, leaving over 551 dead as of August 7, including students who were protesting for reforms.

The movement, which has been raging since July, climaxed on August 5 with Sheikh Hasina handing in her resignation from the post of prime minister and fleeing the country.

However, many incidents of violence and arson were reported in the aftermath.

Nurul Afsar, deputy managing director of Electromart Ltd, said they started factory operations in full swing from Thursday.

He urged the interim government to restore law and order so that customer confidence is buoyed.

He added that they had opened all 55 of their showrooms across the country on Thursday but no customer had entered during the past three days.

Apart from their own showroom, they have over 1,000 dealers in the entire country. "But none of them reported any sales," he said.

According to Afsar, people do not want to spend money against such an unstable backdrop. Consequently, sales came down to nil.

He also said business and politics should be kept separate to ensure economic growth.

A senior official of a top steel manufacturer said their manufacturing unit was operating in full swing, adding that deliveries had started on a limited scale.

He further said that the steel sector had been affected greatly during the past three weeks as they could not earn any revenue but had to meet their fixed costs such as utility charges, salaries and interest payments.

"How will we recover from these financial and non-financial losses?" he questioned.

According to him, investors will need a long time to make up for losses, but it is possible. "If the situation is stable for a long time, then it will be possible to offset the losses."

A senior official of Apex Footwear Limited said they resumed operations at their factories, but not in full swing.

"We will start operations in full swing considering the situation," he said.

However, business at their retail outlets had started partially.

Rezwan Habib, head of business operations at DBL Lifestyles, which retails German and USA brand sportswear, said: "As the situation has improved a little, we opened outlets in Gulshan, Banani and Dhanmondi from Thursday. But sales as well as the number of customers are very low."

He opined that business would not return to normal any time soon.

"Basically, people are not yet relaxed. Due to that, their attention towards shopping is still low," he said.