PRAGUE, July 9 (Xinhua) -- About one third of Czech companies expect orders to drop by 20 to 40 percent over the next two months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but more than half of them plans no mass layoffs yet, according to a survey by the Czech Confederation of Industry and Transport published on Thursday.
This latest survey conducted at the end of June shows a gloomier picture than a similar survey in April, which said approximately one fifth of companies expected orders to decline 20 to 40 percent over the next two months.
More than half of the 135 companies surveyed said that their orders had already dropped by more than 20 percent since the COVID-19 economic shakeup.
Smaller companies in the survey expect orders to fall by over 40 percent in the next two months and 77 percent of all companies see a lack of orders as the biggest obstacle to returning to pre-pandemic output.
However, the survey showed that companies plan to save on non-wage costs as 55 percent of them have not yet planned layoffs and 16 percent said they would wait until September to see whether the government wage subsidies would continue or not. Only 14 percent of respondents said they had already cut staff.
Czech central bank and the European Commission have both predicted the country's economy would shrink roughly 8 percent due to the months-long closure of businesses to stem the spread of COVID-19.
In response to the forecast, the country's lower house of parliament has approved a record budget deficit for this year to pad the blow to the economy and plans to unveil a new employment package by August as wage subsidies are set to end. Enditem
