The economic losses due to the COVID-19 are endless, on workers, families, companies, cities, and even countries. With the pandemic continuing for yet another month, these losses are proving to be inevitable, and are becoming more visible.
On May 4th, the ride-hailing company Careem, Uber’s wholly-owned subsidiary, announced that it will be letting off 536 of its staff, who make up 31% of Careem. It also stated the suspension of its on-demand bus service, Careem Bus.
“Our business is down by more than 80% and the recovery timeline is alarmingly unknown,” said Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and Co-Founder of Careem.
This announcement came hours after Uber announced that it was shutting down Uber Eats in seven markets, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, from the Middle East, and transferring its business operations in the United Arab Emirates to Careem.
Just yesterday, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stated that it will allow private sector companies to cut salaries by up to 40% with the possibility of terminating contracts, due to the current economic situation. It is worth mentioning that King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had previously ordered 9 billion riyals to be disbursed to contribute to paying part of the wages of private sector workers, to prevent companies from laying them off. But it seems like the economy is suffering all over the world, and a crisis is on the horizon.
Although the global economy is expected to need years to recover, businesses are striving to remain positive, doing their best to reduce the negative impact of the outbreak on their workflow.
