Since the first quarter of 2020, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries have faced significant hardship due to the economic shocks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Questions arise, however, regarding the extent to which MSMEs’ hardship has varied between sectors and between countries over time, whether it is gender neutral, whether the digitalization of MSMEs could alleviate it, and whether government support has reached MSMEs. We answer these questions using new survey data from eight developing Asian countries around the middle and toward the end of 2020. We found a wide variation in the severity of and responses to the pandemic impacts on MSMEs between sectors and between countries.
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Source: ADB
Image: ADB