COVID-19 Effects on SMEs Businesses in the Durres Region

Osman Metalla – “Aleksander Moisiu” University of Durres, Professional Studies Faculty, Marine and Engineering Science Department, Currila Street, no.1, Albania
Shkelqim Fortuzi – Aleksander Moisiu” University of Durres, Lagjia No.1 Rruga “Currila” Durres, Albania

7th International Scientific ERAZ Conference – ERAZ 2021 – Conference Proceedings: KNOWLEDGE BASED SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,  Online/virtual, May 27, 2021

ERAZ Conference Proceedings are published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ conference partners: Faculty of Economics and Business, Mediterranean University, Montenegro; University of National and World Economy – Sofia, Bulgaria; Faculty of Commercial and Business Studies – Celje, Slovenia; AMBIS University, Prague – Czech Republic; Faculty of Applied Management, Economics and Finance – Belgrade, Serbia

ERAZ Conference 2021 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-46-2, ISSN 2683-5568, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ERAZ.2021

Abstract: The effects of Covid 19 have hit the global economy; therefore, the Albanian economy could not be excluded from these effects. This paper examines the issues that small and medium enterprises in Albania are facing under the current conditions identifying the most significant difficulties the SMEs are facing. SMEs have been severely affected, starting with the illness­es of the employers, quarantine and lockdown of the businesses reduced demand for different products and insufficient supply. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects that Covid-19 had in small and medium en­terprises regarding the consequences of restriction measures taken by the government had in terms of production, income, number of employees re­duction, the way of doing business and how ready are these companies to return in the post-Covid period. The data were gathered through structured questionnaires and analysed by the authors. The result shows that Small and Medium Size Enterprises have been heavily affected by Covid-19 in terms of income, way of doing business and in reducing the number of employees.

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