Impact of border closures on small business recovery
June 26, 2021
Australian small business owners overwhelmingly named open borders as the top factor needed for them to rebound from the COVID-19 recession.
As outbreaks continue in the community, this is not providing the stability that businesses are seeking to gain full recovery. Having open borders was nominated by almost two-thirds (64%) of SMEs as their most needed recovery factor.
“Given the varied way the states are dealing with border closures, it’s clear that the small business sector sees a unified approach as the way out of trading difficulties caused by the pandemic,” Jon Sutton, CEO of ScotPac said.
“Of their own accord, small businesses wanted a more federal approach to the pandemic, he continued. “This is primarily a call for open borders and reducing the power of the states to make decisions that impact the national economy.”
The Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a range of tourism groups are warning the closing of the borders risks damaging business confidence and leaving multibillion dollar industries in tatters.
For businesses operating in heavily affected sectors, there’ll be plenty of SME owners thinking through how they can safely reopen their operations as coronavirus lockdowns lift.
The question remains how many manage this into the future to minimise the impacts on SME’s.
