Percentage of Bulgarian non-financial cos expecting to close edges down in Feb - poll
The percentage of non-financial enterprises in Bulgaria expecting to discontinue their operations due to the coronavirus crisis fell slightly on a monthly comparison basis in the second month of 2021, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on Wednesday.
In February, as many as 1.9% of non-financial enterprises expected to close their business in a month's time because of the pandemic, the NSI said in a statement, citing the results of a survey it had conducted among over 3,700 companies employing approximately 230,000 people.
In January, 2% of non-financial enterprises expected to shut down in the short term, according to NSI's previous poll.
The results of the most recent survey also showed that the majority of the respondents, 93.7%, expected to continue to operate as usual in March, while 2.1% planned to temporarily suspend activities.
According to the poll, 13.3% of the companies had put employees on paid leave in February, while 13.5% had sent employees in unpaid leave. Firms whose employees were working from home represented 13.2% of all respondents
The results of the survey also indicate that 34.1% of the companies recorded lower monthly operating revenues in February, down from 42.8% in January, while the majority of respondents, 47.9%, reported no changes. As many as 17.6% saw a month-on-month increase in revenue in the review month, up from 11.2% in January.
As many as 53.1% of the companies active in culture, sports and entertainment and 38.4% of companies in the construction sector saw their revenue decline in February.