• ALERT: Nearly half of Mexico’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will not have enough liquidity to survive the coronavirus shock through April, according to an internal survey among members of Mexico’s industrial business chamber (CANACINTRA).
• POLL: Per numbers released by the chamber, only 48% of Mexico’s SMEs have the liquidity to survive through April, 33% can survive through May, and only 12% have resources to survive through June. According to CANACINTRA, the new government microloans program is not sufficient.
• SUPPORT: ” The assistance offered by the government is totally insufficient. Given that these are businesses in the formal (economy) … they have to pay for benefits, taxes, and services, which those who operate (in the informal economy) don’t”, said Enoch Castellanos, head of CANACINTRA.
• DATA: There are around 4.7 million SMEs in Mexico according to the country’s statistics agency INEGI. Management experts told Reforma newspaper earlier this year that those SMEs that are younger than 5 years (approximately 1.8 million) are the most at danger of dying during the current crisis.
