COVID-19 and SMEs: 5 important areas to focus on during tough times

5 important areas to focus on during tough times

- Dr. Nirmal De Silva

It is evident that the COVID19 pandemic would create a significant economic impact globally. Whilst it is rather premature to predict the overall impact, one can safely conclude that the impact will last for a number of months (best case scenario) post COVID-19. In Sri Lanka too we can expect our economy be impacted severely.

The tourism industry which currently employees around 600,000 people both directly and indirectly will be an industry which will be affected not only at present but post COVID-19 as well since tourists will probably not travel out of their home countries for a while at least. Similarly the tea and apparel industries in Sri Lanka will also suffer due to this pandemic as a result of reduction in consumer demand, supply chain issues and stringent cost reduction strategies by both customers and partners. No industry will be spared from this pandemic.

Out of the approximately eight million total employed population of the country around 1.5 million are daily wage earners and around 2.3 million are self-employed. Hence, people such as labourers, carpenters, lottery ticket sellers, street vendors, salon workers, and lunch packet vendors to name a few will definitely struggle in the short- to medium-term as result of this pandemic situation.

Unfortunately, this segment of the country is often ignored when it comes to various Government incentives and stimulus packages. One can argue that this time around it is not going to be ‘survival of the fittest’ but rather ‘survival of the most adaptable’.