GERMAN COMPANIES WORRY ABOUT DECLININ DOMESTIC DEMAND

damage caused by the COVID -19 THE ECONOMIC outbreak has become more and more evident in turnovers, according to a survey conducted by the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AHK Turkey), nearly half of whose members are industrial companies. According to the results, 31 percent of the members expect their sales to decrease by 10-25 percent, 26 percent by 25-50 percent and 7 percent by over 50 percent.

The biggest impact of the outbreak was the drop in domestic demand, which worried about 70 percent of the respondents. However, companies are also concerned about the decline in foreign demand. The percentage of companies that think that demand in European Union (EU) countries will decrease was 50 percent. In addition, 28 percent of the companies expect demand from non-EU countries to also decrease. Reducing the investment budgets planned for 2020 (52.3 percent), order cancellations (45 percent) and logistical difficulties (40.4 percent) are among the effects of the outbreak according to companies which completed the survey.

In terms of financing status, liquidity problems top the list of the pandemics impacts. Forty-six percent of companies state that they are experiencing liquidity problems as a result of the current economic situation. While 29 percent of the participants experienced loss of equity, 28 percent stated that they have not been financially affected. Most of the companies surveyed (53.2 percent) think that their business will return to normal levels in the second half of the year while 33 percent point to 2021 and beyond. Despite the large decline in turnover, three-quarters of companies want to keep the number of employees stable, while only 20 percent have reduced staff.