SYNTHESIS INE@COVID-19, 9 mar-2021

March . 09 . 2021 SYNTH SIS IN @ COVID-19 www.ine.pt page 8/18 Communication Unit | tel: +351 21 842 61 10 | sci@ine.pt COVID-19: monitoring the impact of the pandemic on the enterprises Statistics Portugal and Banco de Portugal (BdP) launched last April the Fast and Exceptional Enterprise Survey (COVID-IREE), with the aim of identifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activity of enterprises. Given the evolution of restrictions on economic activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the questionnaire was suspended between August and October 2020, with a single edition in November 2020. As a result of the third wave of the pandemic, with the consequent mandatory lockdown imposed on the 15 th of January 2021, Statistics Portugal and BdP decided to conduct a new edition of the survey, with a reformulated set of questions, aimed at reassessing the situation of enterprises. The collection for this edition took place from the 12 th to the 21 st of February. The results presented refer exclusively to the enterprises that responded to this edition of the survey (around 5.5 thousand). These enterprises are part of a representative sample used for the calculation of sectoral turnover indices published monthly by Statistics Portugal. The survey does not include enterprises operating in the financial sector or public administration bodies Business situation of enterprises in the 1 st fortnight of February 2021 • 92% of the responding enterprises were in production or operating, even partially (+10 p.p. than in the first lockdown, in the 1 st half of April 2020). • The percentage of enterprises in operation was higher for larger enterprises: 86% for microenterprises and 98% for large enterprises. • The Accommodation and food services sector recorded the lowest percentage of businesses in operation (62%) and had 36% of businesses closed temporarily and 2% closed permanently. Situation of enterprises in the first fortnights of February 2021 and April 2020 (as a % of the total responding enterprises) 82% 16% 1% 92% 7% 1% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% S�ll in opera�on Temporarily closed Permanently closed 1 st fortnight of April 2020 2 nd fortnight of February 2021