Businesses in Nigeria have expressed worry about the safety of their staff and liquidity as they confront the realities of the pandemic, a survey by PwC reveals.
The survey which sampled the opinion of about 3000 respondents — many of them CEOs, managers, and business owners – found that 22.5% were worried about liquidity – the availability of immediate cash to pay bills especially the following disruption to business activities.
As COVID-19 ravages several countries, economic activities have been grounded to a halt in many parts of the world due to the lockdown imposed by governments to curb the spread of the disease.
About 15.4% of business owners indicated that the safety of their staff as the viral infection spreads worries them. PwC says this shows that “Nigerian businesses are people focus and were not only concerned about their profitability.”
Infrastructure for remote working was a concern for 14.6% of the respondents, “further buttressing the need for access to electricity and internet connectivity,” the report found.
While 78.4% said they do not plan to lay off staff due to the crisis, Taiwo Oyedele, PwC Fiscal Policy Partner and West Africa Tax leader, noted that “decisions on staff retention are often top management decisions and it could mean that a good percentage of respondents may not be privy to such plans by their organizations.”
The government’s interventions were judged by the majority of the respondents as grossly inadequate (23.8%) or Inadequate (43.9%), with 14.4% indicating that the government’s intervention met their expectations.
“This provides a clear message to the government both at the federal and state levels pointing either to the need to do more, or to better communicate what is being done already to help shape public perception,” the report noted.
While about 30% of the business owners opined that the government’s intervention should be directed at tax relief, 29.3% indicated that zero or low-interest rate loans should be provided and 16.9% favoured cash transfer to the poor.
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