A survey conducted by the Open Society Foundation on 500 business subjects in Durrës, on the impact of the November earthquake and COVID-19 pandemic, found that 80% of the business related to tourism have had drastic fall of revenues in the last year. As a result, around 40% of the businesses had to cut off their staff or lower the wages, in order to survive in the market.
Around 30% of the businesses say that they still haven’t received any fund from the two packages of the government, while other problems include the lack of liquidity (47% of the respondents), and the impossibility to pay the taxes. In order to face the crisis, 36.2% of businesses had to use their savings, while others have chosen to ask for help to their family and friends or get loans from the banks. The experts urge for financial help to save these businesses, which are still under enormous pressure considering the fact that restrictions are still in place due to COVID-19. While the virus is continuing to spread all across Albania, Durrës for the moment is 3d in the list of cities with most active COVID-19 cases in the country.
