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Thursday, March 28, 2024

National Bank of Ukraine poll finds improved business activity

In its latest quarterly survey of top Ukrainian business managers, the National Bank of Ukraine found a marked improvement in its assessment of current and future business activity.

A total of 1,267 enterprises from all regions of the country were included in the survey for 3Q 2013.

The Business Outlook Index stood at 113.8 percent compared to 114.4 percent in the previous quarter due to a slight weakening in expectations for increased sales and investment growth.

For the third quarter in a row, the respondents expect both purchase and sales prices to grow at a slower pace in the next 12 months. They also downgraded their expectations for a rise in production costs. Higher energy, raw material and supplies prices were listed as the key drivers in sales prices.

Respondents also expect an increase 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 respondents markedly lowered their assessment of a tightening of credit in the last quarter and of an adverse impact of limited access to credit on output growth.