For the first time ever, the National Bank of Ukraine presents the results of the Business Outlook Survey by regions. The new analytical product of the NBU contains analytical reports based on the findings of the survey of heads/managers of Ukrainian enterprises from 22 regions of Ukraine conducted in Q4 2016.
These reports aim to provide information about the current microeconomic processes and the major factors influencing the behavior of economic agents, the borrowing needs and the ability of businesses to raise loans. These reports are intended for anyone interested in regional developments.
The reports contains assessments by managers of enterprises of their current and future business activity, inflation and exchange rate expectations, the prospects for the developments of the economic situation in Ukraine and presents businesses' perception of the major factors influencing the behavior of economic agents In addition, these reports contain regional economic development data.
The survey was conducted from 8 November to 8 December 2016. 682 enterprises from 22 regions of Ukraine (excluding temporarily occupied Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk regions), representing the economy in terms of main economic activities, patterns of ownership, size and staff number, were polled in the survey.
The survey findings suggest that:
- a majority of the polled respondents are optimistic about the financial and economic standing of their enterprises and the economic growth outlook;
- the respondents from most oblasts (13) assessed the financial and economic standing of their enterprises as good and satisfactory;
- the respondents from 17 oblasts give a broadly positive assessment of the development prospects in the next 12 months;
- the respondents from most oblasts are optimistic about the economic growth outlook for Ukraine, but have high inflation and depreciation expectations;
- the respondents most often mentioned exchange rate movements and growing production costs as the major drivers of inflation. The respondents across all the regions had a similar perception of the inflation drivers;
- output growth to meet the increasing demand will be primarily supported by high investments;
- the respondents from all the regions pointed to higher borrowing needs and intended to plan to take out bank loans in domestic currency. Also, the respondents from 10 oblasts said that lending conditions had become more stringent;
- An absolute majority of respondents pointed out that they had no difficulty in effecting transactions using funds in bank accounts; and
- according to respondents’ opinion, the most weighty factors restraining enterprises’ ability to build-up production are political instability and extremely high energy prices.
For greater detail, see the findings of the Business Outlook Survey by regions for Q4 2016 published in the "Publications" section on the NBU’s website.