COVID-19- A Struggling Recovery for the Private Sector in North Macedonia
As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to take its toll on human life, businesses in North Macedonia have continued to struggle despite a return to some normalcy. This note examines the state of the private sector in North Macedonia by comparing t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099510507192223011/IDU006176d3207d0304d65082d80322269d4b698 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37746 |
| Summary: | As the COVID-19 pandemic has
continued to take its toll on human life, businesses in
North Macedonia have continued to struggle despite a return
to some normalcy. This note examines the state of the
private sector in North Macedonia by comparing the
performance of businesses during the period of adjustment to
the pandemic in April 2021 with the initial impact in
September 2020 and the baseline before the crisis, drawing
on a standard round of the Enterprise Survey in 2019 and two
follow-up surveys in 2020 and 2021. While the second round
of the follow-up survey revealed signs of some early-stage
recovery, on average firm sales were still worse off than at
the outbreak of the pandemic. Small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) have been facing difficulties obtaining financing and
were more likely to be overdue on their financial
obligations than in fall 2020. A quicker and stronger
recovery could be promoted through sound policies that aim
at increasing access to financing, enhancing digitalization,
and improving firm management and human capital, as well as
the effective implementation of insolvency procedures. |
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