The percentage of Bulgarian non-financial enterprises expecting to wind down operations due to the coronavirus crisis decreased on a monthly comparison basis in October, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said.
In October, as many as 1.6% of non-financial enterprises expected to discontinue their operations in a month’s time because of the crisis, the NSI said in a statement on Tuesday, citing the results of a survey of over 3,700 companies employing some 230,000 people. The survey was conducted in November.
In September, 2.2% of non-financial enterprises expected to close down their business in the short term, according to a previous NSI poll.
The results of the latest survey indicate that the majority of the respondents, 94.4%, expect to continue to operate as usual in November.
According to the NSI, 16.8% of the companies have put employees on paid leave, while 9.6% put employees on unpaid leave. Firms whose employees are working from home represent 14% of all survey respondents.
The results of the poll also show that 34.2% of the companies recorded lower monthly operating revenues in October, up from 32.2% in September, while 48.7% saw no changes. As many as 16.6% reported a month-on-month rise in revenue in October, down from 17.8% in the previous month.
Some 37.2% of the companies operating in the sector of trade, transportation and foodservice saw their revenue fall in October, followed by companies active in the manufacturing sector with a decline in revenue of 34.6%.
