SUVA, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FEF) said in a latest survey Thursday that 41 percent of its members are at risk of a complete shutdown that may trigger job losses for over 3,000 workers in the fallout of COVID-19.
FEF Executive Officer Victoria Yee said that 271 registered enterprises participated in the survey which indicates that 54 percent are operating normally whereas 5 percent have shut-down.
The findings showed that businesses which are severely impacted are hotels, manufacturing and wholesale and retail sectors.
"We are also informed of how their supply chains have been affected in terms of costs of doing business going up. Particularly sectors which import 95 percent their raw materials, some of them have local options. So it varies, but some sectors have been hit hard and continue to be hit hard," Yee said.
The findings have prompted FEF to assist with the Business Continuity Plan which comes in handy in these trying times.
Yee said that 41 percent of medium enterprises were able to diversify, change operational practices and respond to the current market conditions.
FEF is continuing discussions on measures to cushion impacts of the pandemic to large-scale businesses to help return to normalcy in the next six to 12 months. Enditem
