A TOTAL of 5,607 business establishments closed in Central Visayas in 2020.
This translates to a drop of 21.3 percent from 26,333 businesses in 2019 to 20,726 in 2020, according to the preliminary results of the 2020 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 7.
PSA 7 Director Ariel Florendo told SunStar Cebu on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022 that the closure was due to the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in varying levels of lockdowns across the region.
Florendo said because of intense restrictions on mobility, many businesses were not able to operate properly and later decided to close their establishments due to bankruptcy.
Results of the survey showed that the number of small business enterprises (those with at least 100 employees) declined to 156,563 from 236,673, losing about 83,110 workers as of Nov. 15, 2020.
Medium business enterprises (companies with up to 200 employees) were the least affected, losing only 8,263 employees. Businesses under this category declined to 49,332 from 57,595 in 2019.
Small companies also recorded the largest revenue loss of P328,003,044 in 2020 from P641,352,538 revenues earned in 2019.
Other enterprises also recorded significant revenue losses—micro businesses (at least nine employees) to P145,836,421 in 2020 from P232,943,913 in 2019 and large businesses (more than 200 employees) to P447,718,775 in 2020 from P561,951,376 a year ago.
The region also logged a decrease in revenue per peso expenses to P1.08 in 2020 from P1.15 in 2019.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector logged the highest revenue in the region in 2020, with P352.85 billion with a total share of 33.1 percent, followed by wholesale and retail trade-repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (P324 billion with a total share of 30.4 percent), and electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (P78.25 billion with a total of 7.3 percent share.)
Central Visayas also ranked third with the highest working sector of 9.4 percent or 578,925 workers and business owners in 2020, next to Calabarzon at 15.7 percent with 967,036 workers and business owners and the National Capital Region with 39.8 percent and 2,447,934 workers and business owners.
Florendo said an ASPBI is an essential indicator to identify the region’s economic performance.