March 10: The retail business, which involves the sale of daily essentials to the general public, has slowed down due to the latest financial situation of the country.

The retail businessmen shared their experience that the consumers have stopped buying non-essential goods. They say that the business has declined a lot compared to the past as only basic necessities are sold.

The prices of consumer goods have skyrocketed mainly because of the hike in transportation cost after the price of petroleum products increased in the international market following Ukraine’s invasion by Russia on February 24 last year when the global economy was still battling the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The trend of price hike is rising steadily.

The decline in purchasing power of the general public seems to have had a toll on the retail business.

Bir Bahadur Karki, a grocery shop owner, says that the retail business is not running enthusiastically of late.

“There is not much business these days. The income of consumers has decreased and there is a short-supply of money. In this context, how can the consumers spend money and how will our business run?'' he said.

Businessmen accept that the price of goods has increased sharply. They say that the prices of both domestically-produced and imported goods have increased.

Businessmen say that there has been a sharp rise in the prices of many items such as biscuits, shampoo, cashew nuts, cumin seeds, cardamom among others.

"We are buying goods at a high price. We need to sell them with some profit margin," Aryan Shah, a retail businessman, told New Business Age.

Shopkeepers who sell food say that although the price of food grains have remained almost stable for some time, sales have decreased.

“The prices have not increased. Prices of rice, oil and other commodities have instead decreased compared to the previous month. However, the business is declining,'' said Naval Kishore Goyal, a food trader.

According to him, consumers say that they have no income and therefore they lack money.

Businessmen are saying that they have not been able to collect the money for the goods sold on credit. Devendra Bhakta Shrestha, president of the Nepal Food Groceries and Wholesalers Association, a representative organization of grocers, says that the grocery business is in crisis now. "Sales are going down but the main problem is not being able to collect money from the market," he said.

According to Shrestha, the retail businessmen say that they are not getting money from the cooperatives. “In this context, how will they pay the credit?"

He urged the government to improve the environment for getting money from the cooperatives. Retailers are complaining that cooperatives have not given the money they have deposited due to lack of liquidity.