The percentage of non-financial enterprises in Bulgaria expecting to discontinue operations due to the coronavirus crisis fell on a monthly comparison basis in December, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said on Tuesday.
In December, as many as 1.7% of non-financial enterprises expected to cease operations in a month's time because of the crisis, the NSI said in a statement, citing the results of a survey among over 3,700 companies employing approximately 230,000 people.
In November, 2.1% of non-financial enterprises expected to close down their business in the short term, according to NSI's previous poll.
The results of the latest survey indicate that the majority of the respondents, 92%, expected to continue to operate as usual in January, while 4.7% of the respondents intended to temporarily suspend activities.
According to the poll, 25.3% of the companies had put employees on paid leave in December, while 20.3% put employees on unpaid leave. Firms whose employees were working from home represented 16.4% of all respondents.
The survey results also show that 39% of the companies recorded lower monthly operating revenues in December, down from 41.7% in November, while 46.4% reported no changes. As many as 14.5% saw a month-on-month rise in revenue in the review month, up from 11.8% a month earlier.
Some 56.4% of companies active in culture, sports and entertainment and 44.4% of companies in trade, transport and restaurant services saw their revenue fall in December.