In August 2013, the National Bank of Ukraine conducted a regular quarterly survey of top managers of Ukrainian enterprises regarding their assessment of current and future business activity.

In total, 1,267 enterprises from all regions of Ukraine, representing the economy in terms of main types of activity, patterns of ownership, size and staff number, were polled.

According to the survey results, the respondents markedly improved assessments of the current financial and economic standing of their enterprises, referring to it as good for the third quarter in a row: the balance between “good” and “bad” responses was 4.7% versus 1.9% in Q2 2013. The respondents reported a decline in the stocks of finished goods.

The respondents projected a bright business outlook over the next 3 and 12 months. The business outlook index (BOI) stood at 113.8% versus 114.4% in the previous quarter due to a slight weakening of respondents' expectations about sales rises, investment expansion, and the future financial and economic standing of their enterprises.

For the third quarter in a row, the respondents have been expecting both purchase and sales prices to grow at a slower pace in the next 12 months. The respondents also downgraded their expectations for production costs growth. Higher energy as well as raw material and supplies prices are referred to as the main sales price drivers.

The respondents expect growth in borrowing needs in the next quarter. At the same time, the share of respondents who have already obtained loans and the proportion of those who intend to take out bank loans increased. The proportion of respondents that intend to take out hryvnia loans remained the largest. The impact of factors restraining borrowing appetite received lower assessments. The respondents markedly downgraded assessments of a tightening of credit conditions in the last quarter and of an adverse impact of limited access to credit on output growth.

Disclaimer: The results of the survey reflect the opinions of respondents – Ukrainian business managers – and shall not be considered as NBU forecasts or assessments.

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