Attitudes About the Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Republic of Croatia on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus in the coronavirus family that affect humans which causes COVID-19 disease. It was first detected in the town Wuhan in China at the end of 2019 and later spread all over the world. The first COVID-19 case in Croatia was detected on February 25th, 2020. Less than a month later, on March 16th, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Croatia declared a lockdown due to the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Europe, especially in the neighbouring Italy, as well as the increase of the number of patients in the Republic of Croatia. During the lockdown all business activities, except grocery stores, were closed and the economy slowed. On March 17th, 2020, the Government announced relief measures to support the economy in coping with COVID-19 epidemic, that include interventional procurement of critically important medical and sanitary equipment, delays in tax payments, purchasing of surpluses of potentially threatened business such as agricultural or industrial goods, measures to support tourism activities, as well as rationalization of public spending without measures for healthcare and social services. From April 27th to May 11th, 2020 the social and economic activity gradually started again. This research discusses how Croatian SMEs have been affected by the COVID-19 epidemic lockdown and answers some of the most important questions about the resilience of Croatian SMEs during the COVID-19 outbreak.