Debt Financing during COVID-19 in Albania: Businesses by Activity

6th International Scientific Conference – EMAN 2022 – Economics and Management: How to Cope With Disrupted Times, Ljubljana, Slovenia, March 24, 2022, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia; ISBN 978-86-80194-57-8, ISSN 2683-4510

Abstract:

The first months of 2020 changed life dynamics, both individu­ally and globally. Concern about physical health was soon followed by con­cern about financial health. Companies, as the main contributors to society, faced a multitude of liabilities and costs, which they were not prepared for. The paralysis of economic activity inevitably led to a money supply deficit. This compelled governments, in cooperation with financial system agents, to alternate mechanisms that would hopefully curb the ‘domino’ effect but also inhibit a deep economic recession. The lack of liquidity to survive and operate throughout the pandemic was a prevailing problem of the time. This article, quite distinct from others, aims at analysing how businesses, by na­ture of the activity, used debt as an instrument to survive Covid-2019. In ad­dition to the analysis of the use of financial resources by third parties (in this period mainly bank loans), the authors study also their trend, before Cov­id-19, in the first wave and a year later under the presence of coronavirus.

Keywords:

Debt Ratio; Covid-19; Business activities; Albania; Developing country

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