A research conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) has found that over 75 per cent of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been folded up due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
The report prepared by the MoICS on the impact of COVID-19 on the SMEs said that 54 per cent of such enterprises suffered a slump in production by 50 per cent, 32 per cent enterprises endured up to 75 per cent of drop while 23.52 per cent of such firms experienced decline in production by 75 per cent.
The SMEs related to hydropower project, handicraft, readymade garments, painting companies, jewellery, brass and bronze utensils manufacturing factories among others were included for the research, according to the Ministry.
A total of 17 small-scale enterprises were chosen as a sample for the research, four were middle-scale enterprises while eight were large-scale industries.
On a percentage, 22 per cent enterprises were large-scale industries, 46 per cent were cottage industries, 11 per cent middle-scale and 21 per cent small-scale.
Similarly, the research has shown that of all the cottage industries chosen for the research, 82.35 per cent have been affected by COVID-19 pandemic, 73.47 per cent of them faced difficulties in accessing raw materials and 88.24 per cent of enterprises could not do their marketing.
Likewise, among the small-scale enterprises, 87.5 per cent enterprises were adversely impacted while 75 per cent experience difficulties in availing raw materials and 24 per cent of such enterprises could not do their marketing.
Fifty per cent of the middle-scale enterprises had difficulty in availing raw materials. As the majority of the SMEs and large-scale industries were chosen for research were found to be bearing loss in business, only 16.22 of them were on profit.
Likewise, among those enterprises making profit during the COVID-19 pandemic, 66.67 per cent were large-scale industries.
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