Marketers decry lack of business

A NewDawn’s survey reveals that marketers in Margibi County are seriously complaining about the lack of business transaction. Marketers in Kakata, Weala and areas of Firestone in Margibi lamented that customers hardly go to their various stalls to buy, which is causing their products to rot. They sell various foodstuffs such as rice, pepper, oil, fish, and biscuits, among others. Others are involved in the sale of used clothes, cosmetics, and varieties of skin products.

A market woman in Weala, Ma Bindu Gaytaweh, who sells pepper, beans, cubes, salt and onion, among others, said business has been tough since the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Liberia, especially in Margibi County.

She said customers are not shopping like before, adding that sometimes, as marketers, they hardly get fares to return to their respective homes. Madam Gaytaweh added that she expects customers to buy sufficiently when they go to the markets, but this was not happening.

Another marketer, John G. David of Kakata, who sells biscuits, batteries, salt, matches, rice and mosquito coils as well as cholera among other goods, narrated that due to the Ebola crisis in the country, many people are afraid to go to public places, noting that this one of the issues affecting businesses.  He also pointed to fluctuation in the exchange rate, particularly between the US Dollars and the Liberian Dollars, which is causing prices to be unstable in the market.

Another businessman from Firestone, Harbel in Margibi, who sells palm oil, says he pays lot of money to transport his oil to the market, but he hardly gets transport fares to return home due to lack of customers. He said, sometimes no one even asks for the price of the oil while in the market, lamenting that sometimes he returns the entire stock home without selling any.