Small and medium-sized businesses in the context of a pandemic and economic crisis: problems and solutions

Abstract

The research topic is relevant due to the fact that small and medium-sized businesses occupy a significant share in the structure of gross domestic product, create new jobs, contribute to solving employment problems, as well as increasing the level and quality of people's lives.

The main purpose of the study is to reflect the problems of small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan and to develop measures to support small and medium-sized businesses in the context of the pandemic and the global economic crisis.

During the study, data from the Department of Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2021 were used. The monitoring of changes in the number of small businesses, the number of employees employed in small businesses, as well as the volume of products produced by enterprises in the country over the past five years has been carried out.

In the course of the research work, various methods and techniques of analysis were used: absolute and relative values, analysis and synthesis, and factor analysis was carried out as one of the main economic and statistical methods, in which the influence of quantitative and qualitative factors on the volume of production of small businesses was determined.

According to the results of the study, the main ways of developing small and medium-sized businesses were proposed: providing preferential loans and grants to small businesses, attracting investments to create a favorable investment climate, etc.

Keywords: small and medium-sized businesses, investments, pandemic, economic crisis, subsidies.