‘Restaurants, sweet shops incurred loss of JD20m during lockdown’

Association urges gov’t to defer payment of restaurants, sweet shops’ financial dues to banks

By Bahaa Al Deen Al Nawas - Nov 15,2020 - Last updated at Nov 16,2020

Restaurants and sweet shops suffered a minimum loss of JD20 million throughout the four-day lockdown, according to a sector representative (JT file photo)

AMMAN — Restaurants and sweet shops suffered a minimum loss of JD20 million throughout the lockdown that was imposed last Tuesday and ended on Sunday after the parliamentary elections, according to a sector representative.

“There are around 20,000 to 22,000 restaurants, all of which have rents, salaries and other costs to pay, and salaries in particular are to be paid in full without consideration of any lockdowns, and thus owners have a lot to deal with,” President of the Jordan Association for Restaurants and Sweets Shops Owners Omar Awad told The Jordan Times over the phone on Sunday.

Awad said that the association asked the government to postpone the dates of paying financial dues to banks, as many who have taken loans are unable to pay them, and banks are seizing restaurant owners’ properties.

“The Social Security Corporation also requires payments, and is issuing judicial circulars against them to force them to pay,” Awad said, noting that all they demand is a postponement of payment dates, without any reductions.

He said that around 3,000 restaurants have shut down throughout the coronavirus crisis, and no entity involved is showing “leniency or flexibility”, pressuring restaurant and sweet shop owners into paying their dues, while the government only allows them to work until 9pm, based on the latest announcement.

The Kingdom entered a nationwide lockdown on Tuesday night, which ended on Sunday at 6am, allowing only a one-hour exemption for worshippers to go to mosques on foot to perform Friday prayer, according to a circular issued by Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Bisher Al Khasawneh.

Following the government’s decision in mid-March to introduce strict preventive measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, economists and unions warned that many sectors would be impacted and that it could result in a “large-scale regression if not a complete economic halt effected by the new rules”.

They called on the government to grant a grace period for all economic sectors to give them a chance to pay their financial dues, including sales, loan payments, income taxes and social security.

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