According to the Association of Retail and Restaurant Brands (AMRR) in a statement, they wanted to highlight the date, noting that "a year later, the organisation that represents more than 3,500 shops and restaurants, is still waiting for more support for the sectors, revealing that the number of people employed in the sectors is 22.7 percent lower in December 2020, when compared to December 2019."

The AMRR also recalls that "82 percent of the companies it represents consider it very likely or almost certain that they will have to further reduce the number of workers if no support measures are decided to cope with the new closure of businesses," reads the same note.

In a recent survey, the association "also highlights that 97 percent of retail and catering companies consider it important or very important that rent exemption, or support for its payment, is determined during the closure period".
At the same time, "74 percent of companies in both sectors said it was important or very important to extend credit moratoria".

The AMRR also recalled that "after three months with shops closed in 2020, the majority of retail trade is now facing a period of new closures, until mid-April in some cases," which implies that "in the space of a year, the trade will have more than six months of zero turnover," and in the other six months, revenues registered "average drops of 40 percent, and were 70 percent in the month of January 2021."

The association also recalled that it "has been drawing the attention of the Government, and other political interlocutors" to the "severe impact with which companies in the retail and catering sectors are faced with the second general lockdown".

It added that "suggestions have been made for concrete support that will provide real answers to the new challenges created by the closure of activity since 15 January, or in the case of the catering sector, by the enormous limitations to its activity".

The association recalled the concrete measures that it has been defending, such as the "extension of the credit moratorium (capital and interest) until March 2022", the "adjustment of the Apoiar programme" so that it takes into consideration "the same comparable perimeter of establishments, for the purposes of analysing the drop in sales", the "strengthening of the Apoiar Rents Programme", the "extension of the rent moratorium" and the "balance and fair distribution of sacrifices between shopping centre owners and tenants, with a legislative solution that allows it".