Press Statement

Preasráiteas

01 May 2020

Go to release: Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey 16 March to 19 April 2020

The Central Statistics Office has today (1 May 2020) published the first results of the Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey (BICS). This is the first wave of a temporary fortnightly survey which reports on the key features of how the COVID-19 crisis has affected business in Ireland.

The online survey was sent to a sample of 3,000 businesses and the information was collected between Monday 20 and Friday 24 April. The response rate to the survey was 26.4%. Commenting on the results, Statistician, Colin Hanley, said:

“The results show that of the enterprises that responded to the Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey, 23.3% had ceased trading temporarily during the period 16 March to 19 April, 0.6% had ceased trading permanently, and 76.0% continued to trade.

However, COVID-19 has impacted sectors differently: In Construction, 70.8% of enterprises had ceased trading either temporarily or permanently, while in Accommodation and Food Services 88.1% had ceased trading.

Of the Government supports available to businesses, 47.1% said they had utilised the Revenue Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, while 51.6% stated that they had not availed of any supports.

It is important to note that the results presented in the survey represent responding enterprises only and are unweighted. The CSO thanks enterprises for taking part in the survey.”

The second wave of the CSO’s Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey is being collected next week, between 5 and 8 May. This wave will include additional questions asking businesses for information on price changes, cashflow management, and innovations adopted as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

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