Covid-19 Crisis: The Impact on Micro Entrepreneurs [Case of Malaysia]

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) which first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease is not only caused global health emergency but also global economic slowdown. As a preventive measure to reduce the outbreak, Malaysian Government has implemented Movement Control Order (MCO) or Malaysia partial lockdown. A partial lockdown started 18 March 2020 has impacted the businesses especially among Small Medium Enterprise (SME) industry. This paper examines the impact of Covid-19 health crisis on Malaysia‘s micro entrepreneurs specifically on their cash reserves. Majority of the respondents have very low cash reserves and it can be sustained in two month which is from April until May 2020 only.