AMMAN —
Aqaba retailers have described a slow sales season for garments and shoes as
“unprecedented” in the past ten years, according to a report by Al-Ghad News.
اضافة اعلان
The retailers also say that special offers by
garment and shoe shops in Aqaba have been unsuccessful in invigorating sales.
Traders said this year’s winter season was quite
different from last year’s, especially with low movement of
visitors to Aqaba from other governorates and no retail activity during the weekends despite the
announcement of special offers. They
also indicated that ‘back to school’ sales failed to revive the sector and that
commercial traffic remains at low levels.
Aqaba Chamber of Commerce member Mansour Shaath
noted that traders have offered “massive discounts” on various winter
merchandise in preparation for the summer season in mid-March, but the demand
for winter clothes remains stagnant. Some traders believe that this is due to
unstable local tourism and a decline in the purchasing power of visitors
compared to the market situation of previous years.
Traders are counting on the summer season and
Eid Al-Fitr to stimulate commercial traffic in the city, especially after the
government’s decision to ease COVID-19 restrictions, which will enable tourists
to start coming to Aqaba in greater numbers.
Shaath also
affirmed that the majority of local traders have accumulated debts and other
expenses as a result of the recession, asserting that the decline in clothes
and footwear sales has left local traders operating at a loss due to lack of
liquidity and high operational costs. According to Shaath, the retail clothing
and footwear sector continues to experience a real crisis that began prior to
the pandemic and deepened since its emergence.
Clothing traders pay around 47.5 percent in customs
fees, income tax, sales and service taxes on imported clothing, while footwear
traders pay around 58 percent in duties and taxes on imported goods.
Official figures show that the Kingdom’s imports of
clothing and winter shoes have declined by 25 percent in 2022, falling to JD65
million ($91.8 million) from JD85 million ($120 million) last year.
Read more Business
.jpg)
.jpg)
