The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is conducting another round of the COVID-19 Impact Assessment Survey for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to assess the state of business operations across the country.
Bianca Alyana Zamora, DTI MIMAROPA’s information officer III, said the surveys began in June 2020 and are now in their 14th round, which runs from March 15 to March 30.
According to the department’s observations, as the year 2021 came to a close, there was an increase in the number of businesses that were fully operating. For the 10th and 11th rounds of the survey, DTI recorded 51.5 percent and 64.3 percent completely operational status, respectively, compared to 52.5 percent and 59.7% partially operational status for the first and second rounds.
“Itong data na nakukuha namin ay ‘yon din ang nagagamit ni Sec. Ramon Lopez at IATF na makita kung kumusta ang economy. Nakaka-help din siya sa pag-assess kung pwede na mag-reopen ang economy. Aside from that, ginagamit din ang data at result to realign sa pag-come up ng policies or projects na makakasagot if ever may deficiencies sa results,” Zamora said.
The first two rounds of surveys, with 2,940 and 2,171 respondents each, covered the dates of June 4 to 17, 2020, and July 19 to August 7, 2020, respectively. The manufacturing industry was represented by a sizable fraction of the respondents.
The 10th and 11th rounds, with 1,664 and 1,422 respondents respectively, covered the timelines of November 15 to 30 and December 15 to 30, 2021, surveys. The wholesale and retail industries accounted for a sizable share of the respondents.
Micro enterprises accounted for the majority of the respondents, with 81.1 to 95.2 percent, small businesses accounting for 3.6 to 12.5 percent, and medium businesses accounting for 1.2 to 4.9 percent.
“Nag-identify ang national ng set na number per region at per sector to represent all sectors sa MIMAROPA—kasi nagbabago ang (sample population) since the start. For this round, ang alam ko ay 39 ang share sa MIMAROPA,” she said.
The department clarified that the results of the survey do not represent the entire MSME population in the country. The target participants of the impact assessment survey are the existing clients of the department, including attached agencies that have profiles in internal databases, industry associations, as well as development or program partners.
The sectors also invited to take the survey are accommodation and food service activities, manufacturing, finance and insurance activities, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, and other service activities, she added.