RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services, and Tourism (CNC) reported on Monday that over 75,200 retail stores closed in Brazil in 2020, the second-largest figure since 2016.
The study indicates that the economy lost at least 25,700 formal jobs after the stores closed as the hardest hit sectors were clothing, shoes, and accessories, followed by supermarkets and electronics and appliance stores.
Brazil is in the worst moment of the pandemic. The last week had the highest average number of daily deaths due to covid-19: 1,180 lives lost daily for seven days. Half of the Brazilian states register more than 80% occupancy in intensive care units.”
However, in the most optimistic scenario, the CNC forecasts that if social isolation decreased by 5% by the end of 2021, sales could increase by 5.9% compared to 2020, meaning that at least 16,700 new points of sale could open.
As of December 2020, Brazil reported 14 million people unemployed, about 14.2 percent of its population. However, specialists estimate that e-commerce could help to improve the labor market.
Source: The Sur English