Albanian 
Prishtina, April 21, 2020 – In order to measure the impact of the restraining measures against COVID19 pandemic on the private sector, five organizations representing the interests of the private sector, Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo, German-Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, European Investors Council and Kosovo Manufacturing Club, have conducted a joint survey, the results of which have been distributed today to the institutions of Republic of Kosovo and international financial institutions.
According to this survey, the data of which were analyzed by Recura Financials, and which was conducted with 462 businesses in the beginning of April, 95% of surveyed enterprises perceive the COVID19 crisis as a negative one, whereby over half of them perceive it as very negative. There is also a high percentage of those who have reported drop in sales, whereby over 92% of them have experienced reduced sales as a result of restraining measures, 48% of which have experienced a drop exceeding 75%, while the quarter of respondents have reported reduced sales of over 50%.
The reduced sales to be direct correlation with the ability of businesses to exercise their activities, since the survey finds that 83.6% of enterprises declare that the crisis has decreases their ability to work, whereby 39% of enterprises are completely shut down, 30.7% work at reduced capacity, whereas 13.8% work at reduced hours. Only 2% of enterprises declare not to have been impacted at all, whereas the remaining respondents have organized part or all of their activities from home.
Over 60% of respondents believe that COVID19 pandemic will threaten their existence. The findings show that it is micro and small enterprises that feel more threatened with over 65% of them declaring this, while 44.8% of medium enterprises and 40% of large enterprises believe that pandemic threatens the existence of their businesses. By industry sectors, the construction sector is more jeopardized with 75%, followed by retail sector (57.3%), manufacturing (56.6%), and wholesale (54.7%).
With regards to the number of employees, 30% of respondents have reported to have reduced the number of employees. By size of enterprise, the findings show that only 10% of large enterprises have reduced up to 30% of employees. Whereas more jobs have been cut by micro and small enterprises, with 13.9% of them reporting to have discharged over 50% of their employees.
Regarding the operational aspects impacted by COVID19, enterprises report mainly about financial losses (78% of respondents), lack of liquidity (44%), work inefficiency (40%), loss of manufacturing capacities (27%).
Less than 20% of respondents declare to have been very satisfied with the clarity of Government decisions on restraining measures following the outbreak of COVID19. Whereas regarding the perception of measures approved by the government in support of the private sector, less than 6% of respondents believe that the measures provide great relief on the difficulties they face compared to a similar percentage of those assessing that the measures do not relieve at all the difficulties they face. In between, around 40% of enterprises believe that the measures provide a little relief to their operational difficulties, followed by 21% of those who believe that the measure moderately relief to their difficulties.
Business organizations remain committed to cooperating with Kosovo’s institutions to address the issues that the private sector faces following the outbreak of COVID19, whereas this survey is a proof of this commitment.
The study may be accessed by clicking here