The results of a rapid survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reveal that 42.2% of businesses that participated in the survey are not confident that they have the financial resources to continue operating through the Covid-19 outbreak.

When asked how long business can continue without turnover, 54% of respondents indicated that they can survive without turnover between one and three months.

Further, five in six businesses surveyed had experienced a drop in turnover over the two-week period from March 30 to April 13.

Of the businesses surveyed, 85.4% reported turnover below the normal range. Respondents in the construction, real estate and other business services, and transport industries were the most affected by lower-than-expected turnover.

Most businesses (65%) anticipate that the Covid-19 pandemic will impact their business substantially worse than the 2008/9 global financial crisis. Only 4.3% of respondents expect the impact to be the same.

The survey conducted by Stats SA during the lockdown asked businesses how the current crisis had affected their operations in the two-week period to April 13. A total of 707 businesses in the formal sector responded to the survey, outlining the pandemic’s impact on turnover, trading, workforce, imports and exports, purchases, prices and business survival.

Half of the businesses surveyed have temporarily closed their doors. The industries reporting the highest percentages of temporary closure or paused trading activity were construction, manufacturing, trade and mining.

In terms of workforce size, 50.4% of respondents expected no change, while 36.8% anticipate a decline. Respondents indicated that they have implemented a range of measures to cope with the impact of the pandemic on their workforce, including decreasing working hours and laying off staff in the short term.

Only about one in four businesses indicated that they had not taken any measures yet.

"Micro-businesses (with an annual turnover of below R2-million) were not included in the survey. The results are based on the perceptions of respondents, and interpretation is based on limited responses," Stats SA points out.