SMME closure rate should serve as a warning against the devastating impact of hard lockdowns
9 December 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken note of a new Covid-19 impact report on small businesses by FinFind which has reported a closure rate amongst small businesses of 42.7%.
The SMME sector also experienced a job bloodbath during the first 5 months of lockdown, with 60% of full-time jobs lost, 76.8% of part-time jobs lost, 54.4% of casual jobs lost, and 41.4% of consultant jobs lost.
Even more shocking is that, of the 42.6% of the now-closed SMMEs that applied for Covid-19 relief funding, 99.9% of these applications were rejected by credit providers. Out of all the applications that were rejected, 32.3% simply did not receive a response, whilst poor credit history was cited as the main reason for rejecting applications (35.3%).
These shocking figures should serve as a warning against the devastating impact that hard lockdowns have on the small business community.