About 68 percent of medium enterprises in Hong Kong said their monthly income fell by 20 to 50 percent, according to a survey by Standard Chartered (2888).

The survey was conducted among decision-makers of around 200 medium enterprises in China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, and Singapore. 53 percent of local medium enterprises estimated that it would take at least 6 to 12 months to recover from the impact of Covid-19, while 36 percent of respondents expected it would take as long as 12 to 24 months.

Fifty-nine percent of Hong Kong respondents also indicated that introducing agility and flexibility into business operations and using technology to differentiate themselves from competitors were the top two growth priorities.

Meanwhile, an HSBC (0005) report which surveyed over 2,600 companies in 14 markets in April and May showed that 60 percent of surveyed firms believed they were reasonably prepared, but could have done more.

The survey said the pandemic has driven Hong Kong businesses to prioritize the need for greater diversification and digitization, as well as injecting more transparency into their supply chains to prepare for a prolonged period of economic uncertainty over the next five years.

Meanwhile, DBS Group chief executive Piyush Gupta, said DBS approved 8,200 loan repayment deferral applications amid the Covid-19 pandemic, involving 5.3 billion Singapore dollars (HK$29.54 billion).

DBS approved more than 26,000 loan moratoriums for enterprises, involving around 9.8 billion Singapore dollars, and also provided 6,000 new loans totaling $4 billion Singapore dollars to the small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

Piyush Gupta, left, and United Nations Development Programme administrator Achim Steiner. SING TAO

Medium-sized firms need year to recover