This paper assesses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performance of exporting companies in Benin. It also identifies factors that explain the perceived effect of COVID-19 on the companies’ performance. To do this, we used a survey data covering 122 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and micro, small, and medium industry (MSMIs) in four communes in Benin. Firstly, we computed the annual rate change in quarterly turnover to capture the effect of the COVID-19. Secondly, a multiple regression was estimated to identify factors explaining the perceived effect of the COVID-19 on the exporting companies. We found that the exporting companies experience on average a 53.308% drop in quarterly turnover in 2020 probably due to the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the forecasts, the results also revealed a very slow recovery in activities but the rate of change will remain negative until 2021 if nothing is done to support the MSMEs/MSMIs. Finally, we found that the perceived effect of the COVID-19 depends on the level of education of head of the companies, on the experience in exportation, and on the organization of the work because of the pandemic. Our findings suggest the necessity for public policy support toward the MSMEs/MSMIs to contain the effect of the pandemic in Benin.

本文评估了 COVID-19 大流行对贝宁出口公司业绩的影响。它还确定了解释 COVID-19 对公司业绩的感知影响的因素。为此，我们使用了涵盖贝宁四个社区的 122 家微型、中小型企业 (MSME) 和微型、小型和中型工业 (MSMI) 的调查数据。首先，我们计算了季度营业额的年率变化，以捕捉 COVID-19 的影响。其次，估计多元回归以确定解释 COVID-19 对出口公司的感知影响的因素。我们发现，出口公司在 2020 年的季度营业额平均下降 53.308%，这可能是由于 COVID-19 危机。根据预测，结果还显示活动恢复非常缓慢，但如果不采取任何措施支持 MSME/MSMI，到 2021 年变化率将保持负数。最后，我们发现 COVID-19 的感知效果取决于公司负责人的教育水平、出口经验以及因大流行而组织的工作。我们的研究结果表明，有必要为 MSME/MSMI 提供公共政策支持，以遏制贝宁大流行的影响。