The consequences of the coronavirus for SMEs are redundancies and cuts in investment

Barely three weeks after the official appearance of the coronavirus in Hungary, Hungarian SMEs are becoming more and more gloomy about the prospects for their business this year, according to the latest results of the K&H SME Confidence Index survey. Declining sales and profit expectations, redundancies that have already taken place and are planned, as well as a modest willingness to invest, indicate the impact of the epidemic so far.

“The major part of the first quarter survey of the K&H SME Confidence Index research was carried out before the escalation of the epidemic in Hungary, while a smaller part was made after the declaration of the emergency. In order to be able to follow the opinion of SME managers, on March 23-24, we probed the additional impact of the situation with an extra quick survey. Based on the results, it can be said that in the 10 days between the two surveys, the opinion of companies changed significantly in a negative direction in several factors that most influence the economic situation of companies, ” – Kökény Roland, Marketing Manager of the K&H SME segment said.