Government Interventions to Ameliorate COVID-19 Recession: The Case of Small, Micro, and Medium Firm’s Survival in South Africa

S. Zhou, T. Chimucheka, A. O. Ayandibu and M. Masuku
Additional contact information
S. Zhou: ,‡Department of Business Management, University of Zululand, South Africa
T. Chimucheka: ��Department of Business Management, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
A. O. Ayandibu: ,‡Department of Business Management, University of Zululand, South Africa
M. Masuku: �School of Built Environment and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), 2023, vol. 14, issue 01, 1-21

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of government economic interventions to ameliorate the COVID-19 pandemic on the survival of small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa. We use the Cox Proportional Hazards approach and cross-sectional data from King Cetshwayo District Municipality covering 641 SMMEs. The study finds that tax relief was the most important intervention used to sustain SMMEs during the pandemic. Other interventions, such as cash grants and cheap credit, were also used during the period but had a small impact. Our findings support the interventions used by the South African government in mitigating the negative consequences of the pandemic-induced lockdown on small businesses. However, we also note that the magnitude at which the interventions were made could have been lower than what is optimal. The paper recommends the need to increase and have sustainable targeted expenditure during the difficult times to enhance the resilience of SMMEs to accelerate economic development and growth.

Keywords: Cash grants; COVID-19 pandemic; government intervention; SMMEs survival (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O17 O23 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1793993323500059
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:jicepx:v:14:y:2023:i:01:n:s1793993323500059

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1793993323500059

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP) is currently edited by Ramkishen S. Rajan

More articles in Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().