QCOSTARICA – According to the results of a consultation section that was incorporated into the Directory of Companies and Establishments (DEE), in order to find out what the main effects of the pandemic were, 90.3% of companies were affected by COVID-19, The highest percentage of companies that reported some impact belongs to the Commerce sector (91.1%), followed by the Services sector (90.6%).
The consequences most mentioned by the companies were the reduction of sales or income; and the increase in operating expenses (with 83.9% and 60.2% respectively), behavior that does not differ by activity sector. Other consequences of COVID-19 with a lower percentage of mention were, in order of importance, the reduction in working hours, the reduction in the payroll, and the implementation of teleworking.
In the Construction sector, 35.7% of the companies registered a payroll reduction, being the sector with the highest indicator in this category. For their part, 23.1% of the companies in the services sector registered a decrease in the working day as a result of COVID-19 (the highest indicator among sectors).
Help or benefits
Regarding the companies that received some type of help or benefit due to the situation generated by COVID-19, 88.8% indicate that they have not received any benefit, while 5.3% did not respond and only 5. 9% declared receiving it.
The main benefit received was the readjustment of loans, followed by adjustments in the payment of rent for commercial premises.
For its part, the sector that registered the highest percentage for having received some type of support or benefit was services, followed by manufacturing.
Conservative perspective
The DEE consulted the companies about their perception on three topics: sales or income, payroll and economic activity: as for what will happen to sales and income in the short term (at the end of 2021), 48.8% indicated which would remain the same as at the time of the query. This situation was similar in all sectors of activity.
Regarding the expectation regarding the size of the payroll for the 12 months following the query, 83.1% of the companies expect it to be maintained; only 9.0% hope to increase it, 2.5% will reduce it, and 5.4% did not answer.
Lastly, when asked about what they consider will happen to their economic activity if the COVID-19 health emergency situation continues in the 12 months following the query, 79.3% expect it to remain the same, while 7.2% believe that it will close, only 2.1% will change their activity and 11.4% did not answer.
Source: Revista Summa
