Private economy’s intubation

Eight out of 10 enterprises and one in every three workers in the private sector are surviving on state support.

A 32.6% share of private sector salary workers employed by companies harmed by the pandemic are in furlough and getting the special-purpose compensation as well as other support measures such as the rent reduction and the suspension of tranche payments toward arranged dues.

The consequences of the crisis on the market are huge and are set to continue into the first quarter of 2021. Finance Ministry figures show that 800,000 enterprises have seen their turnover crumble since the start of the pandemic. Some 210,000 of them have shuttered by state order and up to 600,000 belong to the list of companies in the affected sectors.

The sum of workers at the above corporations comes to 1.5 million, of whom 647,871 have had their contracts suspended. The total...