STA, 22 June 2020 - A survey carried out by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) shows that Slovenian companies expect to generate lower revenue this year at an average rate of 17%, and that more than half of them believe their exports will also decline.
The survey carried out between 20 May and 15 June among 272 companies, and published on Monday, sees a majority of companies expecting lower revenue this year, while 13% expect higher revenue and 8% the same revenue as in 2019.
Among those which expect a decline in revenue, 18% believe their revenue will drop by 10%, 16% believe their revenue will drop by 20%, and 13% believe they are in for a 30% decline.
Some 63% of the surveyed companies expect their exports to decline this year, while almost a fifth expects an increase, and another fifth expects to see no change.
Slightly more than half of the companies expect that their investments will be lower this year than in 2019, more than a third think they will invest more and 15% think that they will invest the same amount as last year.
More than a fifth of the companies which intend to reduce investments will do this at a 50% rate or higher.
Generally, the surveyed companies will be firing more than hiring this year, and 53% expects their workforce to be reduced this year compared to 2019. Less than a fifth plans to increase the workforce and 28% thinks their workforce will remain the same.
A majority of the companies expect that their revenue will record an annual growth next year, with 31% expecting this will happen not later than at the end of June 2021.
Some 14% of the companies think this will happen by the end of this year, while 28% said this will not happen before the end of June 2021 or that this will happen even later.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the export presence of Slovenian companies will drop by 46 percentage points - the difference between the share of those which expect growth and those which expect a drop.
The survey also shows that subsidies for furloughed workers is the most used anti-coronavirus measure, as 55% of the companies used it. It is followed by tax deferral (24%), loan obligations deferral (19%) and loans from the guarantee scheme (14%).
On average, the surveyed companies had 33% of their workers on temporary leave during the survey. In half of the cases, the companies asked for loans ranging from EUR 100,000 to EUR 1 million, and 88% of the companies are yet to be approved their loans.
