Le PMI e la crisi sanitaria del 2020: profili finanziari

Abstract

The health emergency caused by Covid-19 had a negative impact on the economic, financial and capital condition of Italian companies, still not fully recovered from the shock caused by the financial crisis of 2008/2009. SMEs were the companies most affected by the pandemic crisis, also because they were most involved in those economic sectors most heavily affected by lockdowns and restrictive measures. This immediately led to a serious liquidity crisis for many SMEs, which only government interventions, through public contributions and credit facilities, were able to contain. However, the greater recourse to debt by Italian SMEs has deteriorated their overall financial equilibrium, making it more difficult for them to find the capital necessary for a restart. In fact, this process requires investments for a corporate reorganization process based on digitalization, technological and environmental innovation, growth in size and scale and internationalization. To this end, SMEs will be able to count on the consolidated relationship with the banking system, from which not only traditional financial support is required, but also an operational and consultancy contribution. However, this contribution cannot be sufficient to guarantee all the medium-long term investments necessary to support the aforementioned reorganizational process, and it will therefore be appropriate for Italian SMEs to turn to the capital market and alternative forms of investment to expand the range of financial resources available. In this sense, the European Union Commission’s plan of September 2020 for the creation of the European Capital Market Union represents an important opportunity for European SMEs towards an evolution that allows them to restart and better compete on global markets, eliminating the traditional factors of weakness that characterize them.