POST-PANDEMIC ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES IN THE JURISDICTION OF QUINSALOMA

Currently, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a fundamental role in the territorial economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they were affected by a lack of raw materials and the established confinement. In the Quinsaloma canton, Los Rios province, Ecuador, existing SMEs presented economic losses that affected workers and the territory in general. The aim of this work is to determine the impact generated by COVID-19 on SMEs in the Quinsaloma canton in the period 2020-2022. A qualitative-quantitative methodology was used, using methods such as inductive-deductive, synthetic analytical and empirical methods such as observation and survey. A survey was applied to 73 SME adminis-trators in the Quinsaloma canton. The economic impact in the canton was negative, although the economy has been reactivated in most SMEs by 5%.