{ "title": "How Countries Are Helping Small Businesses Survive COVID-19", "publication": "IMF Blog, March 9, 2021", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19", "overlayPath": "/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/index.md", "summary": "Chart of the Week", "sections": [ { "heading": "Context and authorship", "content": "- Chart of the Week\n- COVID-19\n- Kazuko Shirono, Esha Chhabra, Yingjie Fan\n- March 9, 2021" }, { "heading": "Economic impact on small businesses", "content": "- The economic downturn caused by the pandemic has taken a painful toll on small businesses; scores of retail businesses have permanently closed in cities around the world since the Great Lockdown in the spring of 2020.\n- Small and medium enterprises account for:\n - \"half to two-thirds of private sector employment in the United States and the European Union, respectively\"\n - \"close to 40 percent of national income in emerging economies.\"\n- Without government support, the failure rate of small businesses could increase \"by as much as 9 percentage points.\"" }, { "heading": "Main findings from the IMF’s Financial Access COVID-19 Policy Tracker (130 countries)", "content": "- Overall adoption rates of policy measures to help cash-strapped small businesses:\n - Financial assistance such as grants: 77 percent of countries\n - Public guarantees on loans: 50 percent of countries\n - Delays in loan repayments: 30 percent of countries\n - Tax relief: 28 percent of countries\n - Lower interest rates: 24 percent of countries\n- Variation by income group:\n - High- and middle-income countries:\n - Averaged 2.5 and 1.9 measures, respectively\n - About 80 percent implemented financial assistance\n - Other measures account for a smaller share, ranging \"from 20 to 60 percent\"\n - Example: Bolivia, Botswana, and India adopted both financial assistance and loan guarantees\n - Low-income countries:\n - No low-income country in the policy tracker adopted more than two measures\n - Financial assistance adopted by 75 percent of low-income countries\n - Tax relief adopted by 33 percent of low-income countries\n - Examples: Mali, Rwanda, and Uganda" }, { "heading": "Policy implications and use of the tracker", "content": "- Monitoring policy measures to support people and small businesses will be critical as countries prepare for the recovery.\n- The policy tracker can help policymakers:\n - Identify effective policies\n - Share experiences\n - Learn from each other\n\nSource: IMF Blog — \"How Countries Are Helping Small Businesses Survive COVID-19\" (Kazuko Shirono, Esha Chhabra, Yingjie Fan, March 9, 2021).\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Financial Access COVID-19 Policy Tracker\n - Financial Access COVID-19 Policy Tracker (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Financial Access COVID-19 Policy Tracker (XLSX){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet\"}\n\n---\n\n References\n\n- as much as 9 percentage points\n- Measuring Financial Access: 10 Years of the IMF’s Financial Access Survey\n- 2020 FAS Trends and Developments\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: Kazuko Shirono, Esha Chhabra, Yingjie Fan", "Published: March 9, 2021", "Chart of the Week", "COVID-19", "Kazuko Shirono, Esha Chhabra, Yingjie Fan", "March 9, 2021", "The economic downturn caused by the pandemic has taken a painful toll on small businesses; scores of retail businesses have permanently closed in cities around the world since the Great Lockdown in the spring of 2020.", "Small and medium enterprises account for:", "Without government support, the failure rate of small businesses could increase \"by as much as 9 percentage points.\"", "Overall adoption rates of policy measures to help cash-strapped small businesses:", "Variation by income group:", "Monitoring policy measures to support people and small businesses will be critical as countries prepare for the recovery.", "The policy tracker can help policymakers:", "**Financial Access COVID-19 Policy Tracker**", "[as much as 9 percentage points](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2020/09/25/COVID-19-and-SME-Failures-49753)", "[Measuring Financial Access: 10 Years of the IMF’s Financial Access Survey](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Departmental-Papers-Policy-Papers/Issues/2020/05/12/Measuring-Financial-Access-10-Years-of-the-IMF-Financial-Access-Survey-49298)", "[2020 FAS Trends and Developments](https://data.imf.org/en/datasets/IMF.STA:FAS)" ], "related": [ { "title": "Financial Access COVID-19 Policy Tracker", "role": "dataset", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/topics/covid/fas-tracker/2020-fas-covid-19-policy-response-tracker-smes-and-mobile-money-03-02-2021.xlsx", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/topics/covid/fas-tracker/2020-fas-covid-19-policy-response-tracker-smes-and-mobile-money-03-02-2021.xlsx.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/topics/covid/fas-tracker/2020-fas-covid-19-policy-response-tracker-smes-and-mobile-money-03-02-2021.xlsx", "mime": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" } } ], "alternates": { "markdown": "/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/index.md", "json": "/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/index.json", "bundleManifest": "/en/blogs/articles/2021/03/09/how-countries-are-helping-small-businesses-survive-covid-19/bundle-manifest.json" }, "generatedAtUtc": "2026-08-27T16:35:05.855Z" }