Trading at Dhaka city's sprawling street markets comes down to half as hawkers have steadily disappeared from the scene during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stakeholders say the informal businesses involving food, clothing and the panoply of consumables have mostly incurred massive losses in the past two years.
Despite the reopening of shops and resilient recovery in recent months, vendors lament, the Covid-hit marketeers could neither fight back nor have been provided with stimulus to revitalise their business.
The number of hawkers -- believed to be half a million before the pandemic -- has halved, according to them.
However, there is no study on how many of them have been part of reverse migration to villages or joined the army of the new poor during the pandemic.
A latest South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM) study shows overall business confidence in January-March 2022 declines principally due to growing concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant.
Large firms (57 per cent) and export-oriented companies (56 per cent) have higher degrees of business confidence than micro, small and medium enterprises (54-55 per cent) and non-exporter firms (54 per cent).
The survey reveals 58.42 per cent of the respondents were positive about profitability in the first quarter of 2022, down from 65.45 per cent in the last quarter.
"Confidence in sales and exports also dropped to 58.02 per cent from 68.05 per cent as a result of global tensions regarding the fresh wave of the pandemic," it reads.
Azharul Islam, who is in his 40s, is one of the beleaguered vendors. He can earn a maximum of Tk 500 daily from hawking garment items in Gulistan area.
His pre-pandemic income was more than Tk 1,000 a day.
"I'm not in a position to run a family of seven with this income. How shall I defray educational expenses of my four children?" the gloomy Azhar tells the FE.
This lone breadwinner of the family started street business in 2001 but he never underwent such an unfavourable business climate during the period.
Having lost working capital, he took loans from his relatives. "I received no support to survive since the pandemic hit our business hard," he pointed out.
According to hawker leaders, the number of hawkers countrywide was 1.6 million until the pandemic. Of them, about 300,000 traded under Dhaka north and 200,000 in south city corporation areas.
"Street-market sales drop to half as the Omicron variant of coronavirus has hit us hard," comments National Hawkers' Federation president Arif Chowdhury.
"Most of the street vendors are struggling as they have finished their savings by this time."
However, Mr Arif says only those selling winter clothes have gained slightly from a bout of economic activity.
He claims hawkers' organisations went to relevant government offices and two city corporations during lockdown and after the reopening, "but nothing encouraging happened to their lives".
Realistically, customers are hardly buying products from street shops as they themselves are facing acute financial crisis, according to Abul Hossain, president of Bangladesh Hawkers' Sangram Parishad.
"The female clientele of roadside businesses is rarely seen to buy products due to this eerie situation."
Wayside fast-food shops also remained closed from time to time, Mr Hossain mentioned.
A wrong perception of the recovery from pandemic shocks is created, says Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Research Director Dr Khandker Golam Moazzem.
Informal sectors could not make a rebound like formal sectors such as ready-made garment (RMG), he adds.
Many street vendors are vanishing from the scene and self-employed people are being forced to do downgraded work, explains Dr Moazzem.
"They need constant cash flow, and with their working capital being very limited, they need it badly to run the business that has been disrupted now," he cites.
As all businesses are suffering, president of both Bangladesh Hawkers Federation and Hawkers League MA Kashem suggests accelerating the process of rehabilitating hawkers.
"Hawkers should be taken under the government stimulus package to protect their livelihoods and save their family members from misery," he says.
Hawker leaders believe an estimated Tk 9.0 billion is extorted from Dhaka's street vendors alone every year.
"People who are involved in extortion should regularly be cracked down," Mr Kashem asserts.
Dr Moazzem insists that the government announce an extended stimulus package for street businesses.
"Two city corporations may also help them and protect their families from an uncertain future," he observes.
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