The Business Expectations Index, calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine, in February rose immediately by 10.9 points, to 51.2 points, which is above the neutral value of 50 points and signals the prevalence of optimistic business expectations.
“Businesses have significantly improved expectations regarding their economic results. The growth of the index was due to improved sentiment regarding the economic situation at industrial enterprises and the service sector,” the NBU said.
The central bank said that the index in the industry grew by 9.4 points, to 53.1, in services by 11.7 points, to 52.8 and in trade by 13.6 points, to 49.9.
At the same time, a slight decrease by 0.1 points, to 34.2 points was recorded in construction.
According to its data, after four months of pessimistic sentiment, industrial enterprises expect growth compared to the previous month (growth from 43.7 to 53.1). Respondents significantly improved their expectations both in terms of production volumes and in the volume of new orders for products, including export orders (63.3 points, 62 points and 53.6 points respectively, against 39.8, 44.1 and 40.2 points a month earlier).
An increase in the number of employees so far is expected only by service companies. At the same time, respondents from industrial and trade enterprises had somewhat more restrained estimates of the reduction in the number of employees compared to January.
