Businesses continued to downgrade their performance. This is evidenced by the NBU Business Activity Expectations Index, UNN reports.
Details
"In September, businesses continued to downgrade their business activity estimates. Revival of domestic demand, increased supply of goods, budget funding for infrastructure rehabilitation and road construction, stable operation of the sea corridor, growth in rail transportation, and the seasonal factor contributed to the improvement of business expectations. At the same time, the shelling of critical infrastructure, deteriorating exchange rate expectations, higher excise taxes on fuel, labor shortages, and accelerating inflation remained constraining factors," the NBU said, citing the business expectations index.
How have the expectations of the survey participants changed?
Enterprises in trade were the most optimistic about their performance. This was driven by strong consumer demand, sufficient supply of goods, and expanding supply chains: the sectoral index equaled 52.1 (in August - 50.4).
Enterprises of the industry provided positive assessments of their business activity due to steady consumer demand, increased production, and improved logistics: the sectoral index is 50.3 (in August - 48.6).
Construction enterprises maintained positive assessments of their economic performance in the short term, taking into account budget financing of road and infrastructure construction, as well as the seasonal factor: the sectoral index is 50.1 (in August - 50.7).
Enterprises in the service sector intensified their negative assessments due to the shortage of qualified personnel and increased business costs for labor and alternative energy sources: the sectoral index is 44.6 (in August - 46.5).
All survey participants, according to the NBU, predicted a rise in prices/tariffs for their products/services.
"The situation on the labor market remains unstable. Only construction companies are not planning to reduce their staff. Managers of other sectors, despite a slight softening of estimates, continue to forecast a decrease in the total number of employees, most of all in the service sector," the NBU said.
For reference
The monthly survey of enterprises was conducted from September 4 to 23, 2024. A total of 474 enterprises took part in the survey. The survey results reflect only the opinions of the respondents, i.e., the managers of the enterprises, and not the NBU's estimates.