Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Republic of Moldova: implications for SMEs

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, which the entire world faced in 2020, has seriously affected all areas of society, including the economy. In the Republic of Moldova, the consequences of the suspension of economic activity during the state of emergency (from May 15 to September 30, 2020 with subsequent repeated extensions), as well as subsequent measures, negatively affected the performance of enterprises in most sectors, tens of thousands of citizens lost their jobs. In these conditions, the small and medium-sized (SME) sector is the most vulnerable. The paper provides a brief analysis of the main components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Republic of Moldova, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent actions of the state in order to slow the spread of the epidemic. In addition, a survey of entrepreneurs carried out within the project - Multidimensional assessment and development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at national and regional level in order to boost the SME sector in the Republic of Moldova‖ (code 20.80009.0807.38) made it possible to assess the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the SME sector in the Republic of Moldova.