The first days of social isolation as a measure to combat the coronavirus are already reaching the fragile financial balance of Brazilian micro and small companies. According to a survey by Sebrae, the public agency that assists these businesses in the country, 89% of them already observe a drop in sales, and 36% say that they will need to close their businesses permanently, in 1 month, if the restrictions remain for a longer time.

The survey was conducted between March 20 and 23, with 9,105 small business owners in Brazil. They told Sebrae that even adopting an online sales strategy, the annual sales of the business would fall by 74% if social isolation policies are maintained for a period of two months.

According to the survey, 54% of entrepreneurs already anticipate that they will need to request loans to keep the business running without generating layoffs. In general, 33% of the interviewed entrepreneurs believe that the country should take a year or more to recover from Covid-19 crisis.