Reunion: Small Businesses are Crying for Help

They are scanned one by one in silence by the crisis. And yet, the damage is there. They, it is the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which constitute 90% of the economic Reunion. Far from the hype associated with the decay of large local companies, small businesses are closing one after the other, breathless, after three years of crisis, and no real prospect of recovery.

The figures speak for themselves. In 2011, more than 2,400 companies were delisted in the trade, industry and services. And today is 5500 Reunion businesses that can no longer pay their payroll taxes.

To measure the impact of the crisis, the numbers of commercial courts always give a clear vision of the state of the economy, our colleague wrote in the Journal of the island of Reunion. The jurisdiction of Saint-Denis, the situation has dramatically worsened in the second half of last year. "As a sign that our island was also hit by the recession," the paper said ..

In 2011, these are 155 settlements that had been pronounced by the court. For the first six months of the year, there were already 89. More than half. However, the protective measures and recovery operations are slightly behind the first six months of the year compared to 2011. But we know that the number of procedures traditionally increases during the second half of the year when the leaders reviewed the accounts of their companies. And they must draw certain conclusions ...

According to Jean-Michel Bouchon, president of the Commercial Court of Saint-Denis, the sector most affected is that of construction and public works. "The markets expected fail. This creates huge cash flow problems. And at some point, it is no longer possible to continue the activity. " The security industry is also among the hardest hit with the local shops.

More companies close, it is also more layoffs and unemployment. "It does not sound like the mainland with plans large-scale social, Jean-Michel Bouchon analysis. But these liquidations are destroying the economic and social fabric. This is very disturbing. "

And our colleague Reunion cite the case of Jean-Michel Espel. The latter founded his company Point VRD specializes in earthworks, in 2000. Located in Saline, the company subcontracted mainly with large construction companies.But since February 2011, the crisis of the building violently overtook the small structure that has laid off its entire staff, or six employees, five months ago. Trying to survive, Jean-Michel Espel now uses the interim and attempts to lease its machines. In vain.