Nearly half of the 707 businesses that responded to a recent Stats SA survey said they did not have the financial resources to continue operating through the COVID-19 outbreak.
Stats SA conducted a rapid-response survey asking South African businesses across the spectrum how the current crisis was affecting their operations; 42,2% of respondents believed they would not survive.
Almost half of responding businesses said they had temporarily closed their doors during the lockdown. When asked how long their businesses could continue without turnover, 54% of respondents indicated that they could only survive for one to three months.
From the manufacturing industry 180 businesses took part in the survey, and from the trade industry 71 businesses participated. The majority of respondents came from a category Stats SA defines as ‘other’ (240 businesses).
