Almost all (96.4%) of Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have suffered losses as a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. This is from research by the Alibaba-backed Ali Research Institute and the China Household Finance Survey and Research Center in their survey of nearly 24,000 merchants on Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall platforms.
More than four-fifths of businesses report losses equal to over 10% of 2019's operating income. This rises to nearly one-fifth (18.2%) of businesses that say losses have exceeded half of their operating income last year.
This impact will be felt throughout the year. Two-fifths...