The project aims to rapidly collect information on the current economic state at the enterprise level.
Despite the high level of long-term uncertainty, business expectations have improved significantly.
Assessments of the current business activity and the overall economic environment and expectations in the six-month horizon have improved for three months in a row, and the level of uncertainty in the six-month and three-month horizons has decreased for several months in a row.
Expectations in the three-month regarding production indicators have significantly improved. For example, the value of the Index of expected changes in production volumes increased significantly from 0.33 in January to 0.47 in February 2023.
In the labor market, there is an increase in difficulties in finding both skilled and unskilled workers.
The power outages, although still one of the main problems, have significantly decreased in importance. The negative impact of electricity, water, and heat supply cuts has decreased. But this problem still tops the list of obstacles along with rising prices.
In January 2023, power outages became less of a problem, although most businesses lost work hours due to power outages.
On average, businesses lost 15% of total working hours due to power outages in January, which shows an improvement compared to previous months (21% in November and 23% in December).
Assessments of the government’s economic policy have improved. For example, in February 2023, the positive assessments of the government’s policy to support business increased to 24% from 21% in January, and the negative assessments decreased from 15% to 11%.
