Minister: extended shops hours boosted economy

RETAIL trade rose 3.6 per cent and around 7,000 people were hired in the year that followed the government’s decision to allow shops to extend their hours and open on Sundays, the labour minister said on Monday.

The government introduced the measure to extend shop hours across the island (previously reserved for tourist areas only) to include Wednesday afternoons and Sundays in July 2013 in a bid to boost the economy.

It is opposed by ruling AKEL and POVEK, the small shop owners association.

“The aim was to increase retail trade and based on statistics there is a 3.6 per cent rise,” Zeta Emilianidou said.

She added that around 7,000 people were hired between July 2013 and August 2014.

The government keeps extending the regime through decrees issued every few months.

Emilianidou said efforts to regulate the matter through legislation have not yielded any results as the various sides disagree.

AKEL has said it will submit a bill to sort out the matter. One idea it was considering was to take away the minister’s power to issue decrees.

 

 

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