Tourism and hospitality would be the most affected business sectors in Serbia hit through the pandemic of the coronavirus, according to the 2nd iteration from the “Overcoming the crisis together” survey, that was conducted through the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia and USAID's Cooperation for Growth Project. They've been accompanied by the creative industry, transport, and storage industry, while the crisis also hit the IT sector and industry. Capacities for production and services have drastically decreased, however the absolute most of firms (Eighty five percent) have kept exactly the same number of employees as before the crisis. One-quarter of business entities have previously recovered partially (26%), while 12% of companies have previously reached the same degree of business performance because it was prior to the crisis.
The survey, conducted from April 21 to April 27 with the participation of just one.000 businesses, suggests that after seven weeks from the crisis the strongest effects that have affected business entities are working time limitations and work from home, insufficient contact with clients, and illiquidity. The finding once more suggests the sensitivity of the private sector to liquidity, while the biggest challenges related to liquidity are the inability to cover the underlying costs and inability to collect domestic claims from the private sector.
The survey shows that firms have conducted various measures to adjust to the crisis, so almost every other business has organized work from home for a part of their employees, while 43% of respondents also have reduced working hours. Every third entity has begun negotiation with creditors about delaying debt payment, while 20% of respondents have partially closed business operations. According to size, the most affected entities are entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises, while almost all respondents have expected the reduction in sales and profitability after 2023.
Around one-fifth of respondents (21,2%) have changed their business model/production algorithm, therefore we can conclude that some of the Serbian businesses happen to be better ready for the crisis. The survey also indicated that there is potential for further improvement since every third firm can adapt their business to the online.
Almost all medium and large enterprises have an online prescence, while the number of eCommerce firms in Serbia has additionally been increasing, so every fifth enterprise sales products and services online. The most optimized eCommerce offers all types of payment techniques to customers, a small percentage of firms offer more than one payment method to their clients.
In the seventh week from the crisis, assuming that the crisis ended in the last times of April, businesses estimate that, on average, they'll require more time for you to recover of computer was estimated at the beginning. Approximately they'll recover in a period of Three to six months or from 6 to 12 months. The expected period of settling the obligations has been prolonged and it'll continue for 3 months or more since before the start of the autumn.
The substantial majority of enterprises have applied for state aid measures and according to representatives of business entities, probably the most useful measures are direct help the MSME sector with the payment of the minimum wage, deferral of payment of taxes on wages and contributions, deferral of advance payment, and guarantee schemes for supporting the economy There's a significant number of entrepreneurs (from 10 to 14%) who need additional assistance in making use of state aid measures.
The survey shows that a decline in the transport, tourism, and industry significantly modify the business operations of others inside the supply/value chains. Most firms, two-thirds of these, are influenced by changes in their operations to as much as 30 other firms within the supply chain backward (their B2B suppliers), and also to as much as 100 other firms in the supply chain upfront (their B2B customers).
