The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the economy of Azerbaijan. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are one of the major victims of COVID-19. The aim of this article was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) operating in Azerbaijan and provide policy recommendations for policymakers to help SMEs impacted by the pandemic to survive and thrive through COVID-19. Quantitative research method was deployed in this study with an

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... line questionnaire for collecting data from SMEs operating in different regions and cities of Azerbaijan. The collected data was analyzed through descriptive statistics analysis approach. The results of the study indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has massively affected small and medium enterprises. Approximately 92.96% of the enterprises participating in the research study showed that CO-VID-19 has either extremely negatively or negatively impacted the businesses operations. The results of the survey also showed that the tourism (26.60%), restaurant and cafe (22.10%) and education sector (13.60%) are among the most negatively affected by COVID-19 pandemic while pharmacies (0.2%), insurance (0.8%) and agriculture (1.2%) are among the least affected by the pandemic. Various policy recommendations were suggested for policymakers to ease the burden on SMEs, based on the research findings.