IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/9642.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

COVID-19 and African Firms : Impact and Coping Strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Aga,Gemechu A.
  • Maemir,Hibret Belete

Abstract

Drawing on a representative survey of firms in 38 countries, eight of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper documents the impact of COVID-19 and firms’ coping strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa, benchmarking with other regions. The paper shows that the impact of the pandemic is more pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with other regions. This disproportionate impact is not explained by differences in sectoral composition and other firm characteristics, but likely by the level of development. This underscores the important economic and structural contexts that predate the pandemic in understanding the differential impact. Contrary to expectations, the findings show that businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa are more likely to adjust their operations or products and services to adapt to the shock than those in other regions. However, firms in the region lag in leveraging digital technologies, remote working, and e-commerce, compared with those in other regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Aga,Gemechu A. & Maemir,Hibret Belete, 2021. "COVID-19 and African Firms : Impact and Coping Strategies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9642, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9642
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/200951619451183376/pdf/COVID-19-and-African-Firms-Impact-and-Coping-Strategies.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Steven J. Davis & John C. Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1998. "Job Creation and Destruction," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262540932, April.
    3. Apedo Amah,Marie Christine & Avdiu,Besart & Cirera,Xavier & Vargas Da Cruz,Marcio Jose & Davies,Elwyn Adriaan Robin & Grover,Arti Goswami & Iacovone,Leonardo & Kilinc,Umut & Medvedev,Denis & Maduko,Fr, 2020. "Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses : Firm Level Evidence from Across the World," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9434, The World Bank.
    4. Loayza,Norman V. & Pennings,Steven Michael, 2020. "Macroeconomic Policy in the Time of COVID-19 : A Primer for Developing Countries," Research and Policy Briefs 147291, The World Bank.
    5. Bachas,Pierre Jean & Brockmeyer,Anne & Semelet,Camille Marine, 2020. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Formal Firms: Micro Tax Data Simulations across Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9437, The World Bank.
    6. Angus Deaton, 2021. "COVID-19 and Global Income Inequality," NBER Working Papers 28392, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Silvia Muzi & Filip Jolevski & Kohei Ueda & Domenico Viganola, 2023. "Productivity and firm exit during the COVID-19 crisis: cross-country evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1719-1760, April.
    2. Lafortune, Jeanne & Pugatch, Todd & Tessada, José & Ubfal, Diego, 2022. "Can interactive online training make high school students more entrepreneurial? Experimental evidence from Rwanda," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1041, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Shahin, Ahmad E, 2021. "Growing During a Global Crisis," MPRA Paper 117829, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cirera,Xavier & Vargas Da Cruz,Marcio Jose & Grover,Arti Goswami & Iacovone,Leonardo & Medvedev,Denis & Pereira Lopez,Mariana De La Paz & Reyes,Santiago, 2021. "Firm Recovery during COVID-19 : Six Stylized Facts," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9810, The World Bank.
    2. Carlos Díaz & Sebastian Fossati & Nicolás Trajtenberg, 2022. "Stay at home if you can: COVID‐19 stay‐at‐home guidelines and local crime," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1067-1113, December.
    3. Cristina Constantinescu & Ana Margarida Fernandes & Arti Grover & Stavros Poupakis & Santiago Reyes, 2022. "Globally Engaged Firms in the Covid-19 Crisis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9711, CESifo.
    4. Joël Cariolle & Florian Léon, 2022. "How internet helped firms cope with COVID-19 [Comment internet a aidé les entreprises à faire face à la Covid-19]," Post-Print hal-03606071, HAL.
    5. Benedikt Janzen & Doina Maria Radulescu, 2021. "Effects of Covid-19 Related Government Response Stringency and Support Policies: Evidence from European Firms," CESifo Working Paper Series 9116, CESifo.
    6. Wei Cui & Jeffrey Hicks & Max Norton, 2022. "How well-targeted are payroll tax cuts as a response to COVID-19? evidence from China," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(5), pages 1321-1347, October.
    7. Hausmann, Ricardo & Schetter, Ulrich, 2022. "Horrible trade-offs in a pandemic: Poverty, fiscal space, policy, and welfare," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. Igarashi, Takiko & Takeda, Asami & Truong, Hoa T. & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2022. "Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Asia," ADBI Working Papers 1286, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    9. Ragoussis,Alexandros & Timmis,Jonathan David, 2022. "Global Transition Online," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9951, The World Bank.
    10. Janzen, Benedikt & Radulescu, Doina, 2022. "Effects of COVID-19 related government response stringency and support policies: Evidence from European firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 129-145.
    11. Ardiyono, Sulistiyo K., 2022. "Covid-19 pandemic, firms’ responses, and unemployment in the ASEAN-5," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 337-372.
    12. Hannah Carver & Tracey Price & Danilo Falzon & Peter McCulloch & Tessa Parkes, 2022. "Stress and Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Frontline Homelessness Services Staff Experiences in Scotland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Kugler, Adriana, 2000. "The Incidence of Job Security Regulations on Labor Market Flexibility and Compliance in Colombia: Evidence from the 1990 Reform," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3267, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. John Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1999. "Gross job flows between plants and industries," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Mar, pages 41-64.
    15. Velasco, Andrés & Chang, Roberto, 2020. "Economic Policy Incentives to Preserve Lives and Livelihoods," CEPR Discussion Papers 14614, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & Ricardo Lagos, 2007. "A Model of Job and Worker Flows," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(5), pages 770-819, October.
    17. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2002. "Job Reallocation and Productivity Growth under Alternative Economic Systems and Policies: Evidence from the Soviet Transition," CERT Discussion Papers 0208, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    18. Oznur Ozdamar & Eleftherios Giovanis & Sahizer Samuk, 2020. "State business relations and the dynamics of job flows in Egypt and Turkey," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 519-558, December.
    19. Shigeru Fujita, 2011. "Dynamics of worker flows and vacancies: evidence from the sign restriction approach," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 89-121, January/F.
    20. Andersson, Fredrik & Vejsiu, Altin, 2001. "Determinants of plant closures in Swedish manufacturing," Working Paper Series 2001:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9642. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.