The article presents the key macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine and the global economy as of the end of February 2026. The analysis was prepared on the basis of current data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (SSSU), the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, as well as leading national statistical agencies (Eurostat, BEA, NBS, ONS, TurkStat, IBGE). Maksym Urakin, PhD in Economics and founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center, presented an overview of current macroeconomic trends that determined the situation in Ukraine and the world at the beginning of 2026.
Macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine
As of the end of February 2026, the Ukrainian economy maintained a regime of managed macrofinancial stabilization, but compared with January the balance of risks became less comfortable. After the start of the cycle of cautious easing of the NBU’s monetary policy, inflation again accelerated somewhat, international reserves declined from historically high levels, and the foreign exchange market required significant interventions by the regulator. At the same time, the overall macrofinancial situation remained under control thanks to the high level of reserves, external support, continued demand for hryvnia instruments, and the adaptability of business.
The Ukrainian economy ended 2025 with positive but moderate dynamics. According to estimates by the National Bank of Ukraine, real GDP grew by 1.8% in 2025. This meant the preservation of the recovery trend, but the pace of growth was significantly lower than the needs of post-war reconstruction. The main constraints remained the consequences of the war, the shortage of labor, damage to energy infrastructure, weakness of external demand for part of Ukrainian exports, and a high level of uncertainty for investment.
For 2026, the NBU also forecast economic growth of 1.8%. This estimate reflected a cautious scenario: domestic demand and budget expenditures supported economic activity, but energy risks, war losses, and limited export opportunities did not provide grounds to speak of rapid acceleration.
“February 2026 showed that Ukraine is not yet in the phase of full-fledged recovery, but rather in the phase of maintaining macroeconomic manageability. Positive indicators rely to a significant extent on external financing, budget demand, NBU policy, and business adaptation. This creates a stabilization effect, but does not yet form a sufficient internal basis for long-term growth. To move to a new quality of recovery, Ukraine needs not only reserves and partner assistance, but also an increase in production, exports, energy autonomy, and investment in human capital,” Urakin noted.
The inflation picture in February became one of the main signals for macroeconomic policy. According to data from the State Statistics Service, which was commented on by the NBU, consumer inflation in February 2026 accelerated to 7.6% year-on-year, while on a monthly basis prices rose by 1.0%. Core inflation remained at 7.0% y/y. This meant that after the January slowdown, inflationary pressure had not fully disappeared, and some of its components again began to strengthen.
The NBU explained the February dynamics, in particular, by the rise in prices for raw food products, the increase in the cost of certain services, the impact of the energy situation on business costs, and a certain acceleration in fuel prices. At the same time, the regulator noted that the overall inflation trajectory remained close to the forecast. This made it possible not to revise the monetary strategy sharply, but forced caution to be maintained in matters of further rate reductions.
At the end of February, the NBU key policy rate stood at 15.0%. After the reduction at the end of January, the regulator effectively paused, assessing how stable the disinflationary trend was. Such an approach looked logical: the real yield of hryvnia instruments remained an important factor in restraining demand for foreign currency, while the foreign exchange market continued to require the active participation of the National Bank.
“The February acceleration of inflation was not critical, but it clearly showed the limits of rapid monetary easing. Ukraine cannot afford a sharp cheapening of money merely for the sake of short-term economic stimulation, since this could increase demand for foreign currency and destabilize inflation expectations. In the current conditions, the NBU is forced to balance between supporting economic activity and preserving confidence in the hryvnia. That is why every subsequent step to reduce the rate must be very cautious and tied to a real weakening of risks,” Urakin emphasized.
The foreign exchange sector in February remained controlled but tense. As of March 1, 2026, Ukraine’s international reserves amounted to about $54.8 billion. This was 5% less than at the beginning of February, but the level of reserves remained historically high and corresponded to approximately 5.7 months of future imports. The decline in reserves was due primarily to NBU interventions in the foreign exchange market and the state’s debt payments in foreign currency.
In February, the National Bank’s net sale of foreign currency amounted to almost $3 billion. This indicated the preservation of a structural foreign currency deficit in the private sector. External financing inflows partially compensated for this pressure, but did not eliminate the problem itself: the Ukrainian economy imports significantly more goods than it exports, and therefore foreign exchange stability continues to depend substantially on international assistance and NBU reserves.
Foreign trade remained one of the weakest elements of the macroeconomic structure. According to the State Customs Service, in January-February 2026 Ukraine’s trade turnover amounted to $21.3 billion. Imports reached $14.8 billion, while exports amounted to only $6.5 billion. Thus, the trade deficit for the two months exceeded $8 billion. This meant that imports were more than twice as high as exports, while domestic demand for foreign goods, energy resources, equipment, and consumer goods remained significantly higher than foreign exchange earnings from the sale of Ukrainian products abroad.
The largest sources of imports remained China, Poland, and Turkey. In the structure of imports, machinery, equipment, vehicles, and fuel and energy goods played an important role. The largest destinations for Ukrainian exports were Poland, Turkey, and Italy, while the basis of exports remained food products, metals, and certain machine-building items. Such a structure confirms that Ukraine does not yet have a sufficiently diversified export base for a rapid reduction of the trade deficit
“Foreign trade is precisely the key indicator of long-term resilience. Record reserves and international assistance can stabilize the situation, but they do not replace the economy’s own export capacity. When imports exceed exports by more than two times, this means that the country finances a significant part of consumption, investment needs, and the war economy from external sources. Such a model is justified in wartime conditions, but strategically it cannot be permanent. If Ukraine wants to move from a survival model to a development model, it needs to increase the share of products with higher added value, develop processing, logistics, energy resilience, the defense-industrial complex, and technological production,” Urakin stressed.
The budget situation in the first two months of the year also remained tense. According to the Ministry of Finance, in January-February 2026 revenues of the general fund of the state budget amounted to about UAH 466.8 billion, while cash expenditures of the general fund amounted to about UAH 546.5 billion. Tax revenues, customs payments, and international grants played a significant role in revenues, the volume of which over the two months amounted to more than UAH 160 billion.
This confirms that Ukraine’s public finances remain functional, but structurally dependent on external support. Expenditures on defense, security, social payments, and servicing state obligations form a very high level of budgetary burden. Under such conditions, the rhythmic nature of international financing, the government’s ability to attract funds on the domestic market, and the preservation of confidence in hryvnia instruments remain critically important.
“Ukraine’s budget in 2026 remains a budget of wartime resilience. Its task is not only to finance defense and social obligations, but also to maintain confidence in public finances. But when a significant part of revenues is directly or indirectly linked to international support, the country cannot afford to lose the regularity of financing. The government must work simultaneously on three tasks: ensuring external inflows, developing the domestic borrowing market, and gradually expanding its own tax base through the recovery of economic activity,” Urakin noted.
Global economy
As of the end of February 2026, the global economy looked more resilient than could have been expected amid high geopolitical tension, debt risks, and the restructuring of global supply chains. In its January update of the World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund forecast global economic growth of 3.3% in 2026 and 3.2% in 2027. This meant the absence of a global recession scenario, but also did not indicate a return to rapid and synchronized growth.
The United States remained one of the main stabilizers of the global economy. Real U.S. GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025 grew by 1.4% year-on-year after a significantly stronger third quarter, while for 2025 as a whole the economy increased by 2.2%. The main drivers were consumer spending and private investment. At the same time, inflation was gradually declining: in January 2026, CPI stood at 2.4% year-on-year after 2.7% in December 2025. At the end of January, the Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate range at 3.5–3.75%.
For Ukraine, U.S. economic dynamics had a dual significance. On the one hand, U.S. resilience supported global demand and financial markets. On the other hand, the preservation of relatively high rates meant that global liquidity remained not very cheap, while countries with elevated risk found it more difficult to count on a sharp reduction in the cost of capital.
The eurozone was in another phase of the cycle. Its economy demonstrated weaker growth, but inflation was closer to the target. According to Eurostat estimates, in the fourth quarter of 2025 eurozone GDP grew by 0.3% compared with the previous quarter, and by approximately 1.5% for 2025 as a whole. At the beginning of 2026, the European Central Bank kept the deposit rate at 2.0%, the main refinancing operations rate at 2.15%, and the marginal lending rate at 2.40%. The February inflation background in the eurozone remained close to the target level.
For Ukraine, the European economy is the key external environment through trade, financing, migration, logistics, and the process of integration into the EU. However, weak eurozone growth means that external demand from European partners is unlikely to become an independent powerful driver of Ukrainian exports in 2026. Ukraine must focus not only on the volume of raw material supplies, but also on production integration into European value-added chains.
The United Kingdom remained an example of an economy with moderate growth and a still elevated inflation background. After weak dynamics at the end of 2025, the British economy entered 2026 cautiously: the services sector remained the main pillar, while industry and construction did not provide a strong impulse. Inflation in January 2026 slowed to 3.0% year-on-year, but still exceeded the Bank of England’s target. This limited the space for rapid monetary easing.
“The global economy at the beginning of 2026 did not look crisis-ridden, but it cannot be called uniformly strong. The United States maintained positive dynamics, although no longer at an overheated pace; the eurozone was effectively balancing between low inflation and weak growth; the United Kingdom had slow growth, but still an elevated inflation background. For Ukraine, this means that external demand is unlikely to become a powerful independent driver of recovery. The global environment rather creates moderately favorable financial conditions, but does not guarantee automatic growth of Ukrainian exports,” Urakin noted.
China ended 2025 with a formally strong result: the country’s GDP grew by 5.0%, to more than 140 trillion yuan. In February 2026, consumer inflation in China stood at 1.3% year-on-year, which was higher than previous weak indicators, but still indicated moderate domestic price pressure. China maintained a powerful production and export base, but the issues of domestic demand, the real estate market, and debt burden remained important constraints.
India, by contrast, remained one of the most dynamic large markets in the world. According to the government’s first advance estimate, India’s real GDP in the 2025/26 fiscal year was expected to grow by 7.4%, while in the third quarter of the fiscal year the growth rate was estimated at 7.8%. The main driver remained the services sector, as well as domestic demand. Inflation in India at the beginning of 2026 remained moderate, creating favorable conditions for maintaining high economic dynamics.
Turkey at the beginning of 2026 continued to demonstrate a combination of economic growth and high inflation. According to official estimates, Turkey’s GDP grew by 3.6% in 2025, but inflation in February 2026 amounted to more than 31% year-on-year. This meant that the country maintained business activity and domestic demand, but at the cost of high price pressure and the need for strict macroeconomic policy.
Brazil looked more balanced. Its GDP grew by 2.3% in 2025, to 12.7 trillion reais at current prices, while IPCA inflation for 2025 amounted to 4.26%. Growth was supported by the agricultural sector, services, and industry. For the global economy, Brazil remained an important example of a large market that combines raw material potential, domestic demand, and a relatively controlled inflation background.
“China, India, Turkey, and Brazil show very well how different the dynamics of large developing economies have become. China has great scale and a strong production base, but still faces structural imbalances and insufficiently strong domestic demand. India demonstrates the most convincing combination of high growth and moderate inflation. Turkey maintains momentum, but the price of this growth is a very high inflation background. Brazil is moving more moderately, but more balanced. For Ukraine, it is important to look at these examples practically: in global competition, those economies win that are able simultaneously to maintain macro-stability, a production base, exports, and domestic investment demand,” Urakin believes.
Conclusions
As of the end of February 2026, Ukraine maintained macrofinancial manageability, but February showed that stabilization remains fragile. Inflation accelerated to 7.6% y/y, the key policy rate remained at 15.0%, international reserves declined to about $54.8 billion, and the foreign exchange market required almost $3 billion in net NBU interventions during the month. At the same time, reserves remained sufficient, the budget was executed with the support of domestic revenues and international grants, and the economy maintained positive dynamics.
The main weaknesses of the Ukrainian economy remained the high trade deficit, the dependence of the budget on external financing, war risks, labor shortages, energy vulnerability, and insufficient export diversification. Positive factors included high international reserves, controlled monetary policy, business adaptability, the continuation of international support, and the preservation of the functionality of public finances.
The global economy at the same moment demonstrated moderate resilience. The IMF forecast global growth at 3.3% in 2026. The United States remained strong, but no longer with excessive overheating; the eurozone balanced between weak growth and almost target-level inflation; China maintained scale, but had structural challenges; India remained the main growth driver among large economies; Turkey was fighting high inflation; Brazil demonstrated moderately positive dynamics.
“February 2026 became a reminder for Ukraine that macrofinancial stability in wartime conditions is not a final result, but a process of constant balancing. The country has a financial cushion in the form of reserves and partner support, but long-term resilience will depend on the ability to create its own economic base for growth. For this, investments in energy, processing, logistics, export-oriented production, technologies, and human capital remain critically important in 2026. Without this, even high reserves and external assistance will remain only a financial cushion, and not a source of long-term development,” Urakin summarized.
The monthly analytical and statistical product “Economic Monitoring” is available to Interfax-Ukraine clients.
Maksym Urakin, Head of the “Economic Monitoring” project, Director of Development and Marketing at Interfax-Ukraine, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Doctor of Philosophy in History, and founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center
Experts Club analyzed the main macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine. In connection with the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of the Interests of Business Entities during Martial Law or a State of War”, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine suspends the publication of statistical information for the period of martial law, as well as for three months after its termination. The exception is the publication of information on the consumer price index, separate information on statistical indicators for 2021 and for the period January-February 2022. The article analyzes open data from the State Statistics Service, the National Bank, and think tanks.
Maksim Urakin, PhD in Economics, founder of the Experts Club think tank, presented an analysis of macroeconomic trends in Ukraine and the world based on official data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the NBU, the UN, the IMF, and the World Bank.
Macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine
According to the Center’s founder, Maksym Urakin, in the first quarter of 2024, Ukraine’s GDP grew by 4.1% to 5.3% compared to the same period last year.
“The main growth factors were an increase in agricultural exports and production activity in certain industries. However, the negative balance of foreign trade in goods in the first quarter amounted to almost $6 billion, which is 10% more than last year. This is due to an increase in energy imports after the strikes on the Ukrainian energy sector in March,” Urakin said.
According to the founder of Experts Club, Ukraine’s national debt has reached a new historical high of $151 billion, which is almost 6 trillion hryvnia in hryvnia equivalent. Inflation in Ukraine in the first quarter was 1% year-on-year, which is in line with the NBU’s target range.
Global economy
Maksim Urakin noted that analysts forecast that the global economy will grow by 2% in 2024, which is lower than expected at the end of last year. The main reasons for the slowdown are high interest rates in developed countries and global geopolitical uncertainty.
“The US economy grew by 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024, which is lower than the growth rates observed in previous quarters, but still at an acceptable level for the development of the country’s economy. China’s economy grew by 5% due to a partial recovery from the crisis and government injections into the technology cluster,” the expert summarized.
He also reminded that the European Commission expects the eurozone economy to grow modestly in 2024 by only 0.8%, i.e. even less than 1%.
“High inflation and weak domestic demand remain the main problems of the EU countries. However, the British economy showed a modest growth of 0.6%, which indicates a weak recovery from the pandemic and Brexit,” Urakin said.
The economic situation in the world remains tense and depends on many factors, including geopolitical risks and changes in the global economic and political landscape. The Experts Club will continue to monitor the situation and provide up-to-date and balanced news.
Head of the Economic Monitoring project, PhD in Economics Maksim Urakin
UN economists have improved their forecast for global economic growth in 2024 to 2.7% from 2.4% expected in January.
In 2025, it will increase by 2.8%, while previously it was expected to be 2.7%.
The average growth rate of the global economy in the coming years is expected to remain below the 3.2% recorded on average in 2010-2019.
The revision of the estimate for the current year is mainly due to more positive changes in the economies of a number of large developed and developing countries, in particular Brazil, India, Russia and the United States, the organization’s report says.
According to UN estimates, the US economy will grow by 2.3% this year (1.4% was expected in January), the UK – by 0.8% (0.4%), China – by 4.8% (4.7%), Brazil – by 2.1% (1.6%), India – by 6.9% (6.2%), and Japan – by 1.2% (unchanged).
At the same time, the forecasts for the European Union and the euro area were revised downward – to 1% from 1.2% and to 0.8% from 1.1%, respectively.
“For both the European Union as a whole and the euro area, we expect a gradual recovery in economic activity in 2024-2025, after a noticeable stagnation in many European countries over the past year,” said Grigoriy Agabekyan of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
This should be facilitated by a slowdown in inflation (it is falling faster than expected in Europe due to a sharp decline in energy costs), income growth in real terms, and the expected easing of monetary policy.
“In fact, a number of central banks in Eastern Europe and the Swiss central bank have already cut their key interest rates, and as inflation returns to its target level, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also expected to begin their easing cycles this year. It is also expected that as global trade recovers, exports from European countries will increase,” the expert said.
“As for the somewhat more modest forecasts for the European Union compared to those presented in January, this revision is explained by the fact that against the background of continued sluggish industrial production, economic growth forecasts for a number of countries on the continent that depend on the manufacturing industry have been lowered. This list includes, in particular, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. At the same time, Germany’s economy, which is the leading economy in the European Union, shrank by 0.3% in 2023, and in 2024 we assume a recovery of only 0.3%,” Agabekyan said.
The UN forecasts global trade growth of 3.2% in 2024 and 3.6% next year.
GDP growth in developed countries is expected to reach 1.6% in 2024 and 2025, and in developing countries – by 4.1% and 4.3%, respectively.
Earlier, Experts Club and Maksim Urakin released a video analysis of how the GDP of the world’s countries has changed in recent years, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=BsZmIUERHSBJrO_3
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
The National Bank of Ukraine, which previously included certain terms of “significant improvement in the security situation” in its basic macroeconomic forecast scenario, has abandoned this approach and instead published an alternative scenario in its April inflation report, the main difference of which is slower economic growth in 2025 with a larger budget deficit, weaker hryvnia and reduced international reserves.
“The alternative scenario is based on the assumption of higher security risks and, accordingly, a slower return of the economy to normal conditions over the forecast horizon. Under this scenario, Ukraine’s economy will recover more slowly in 2025 compared to the baseline scenario. However, the inflation trajectory will differ slightly,” the NBU said in the report.
As reported, in the first inflation reports for July and October 2022 after the pause caused by the Russian invasion, the NBU, in addition to the baseline, provided an alternative scenario with a longer period of war, but later abandoned it, although the IMF continued to provide such a scenario.
In the renewed alternative scenario in the April inflation report this year, GDP growth in 2025, in particular, will accelerate to only 3.3% from 3% this year, while the baseline scenario envisages economic growth of 5.3% next year.
At the same time, in 2026, the baseline scenario envisages a slowdown to 4.5%, while the alternative scenario envisages an acceleration to 5.6%.
According to the NBU, the economic recovery in the alternative scenario will be more fragile, even with more significant budget deficits. “Increased imbalances in the labor market amid a worse migration situation than in the baseline scenario will restrain consumer and business activity, and increase pressure on business labor costs. The recovery of industrial production from the damage and losses caused under this scenario will be slower, as will the recovery of sown areas,” the NBU said.
He added that the energy deficit will also have a negative impact on economic activity, which, however, is assumed to remain unchanged compared to the baseline scenario – about 5% in 2024-2025.
“Ensuring macro-financial stability will require somewhat higher volumes of international assistance and, at the same time, significantly higher spending of the NBU reserves to maintain a controlled situation in the foreign exchange market and moderate inflation,” the NBU emphasized.
According to the document, the main factor supporting the economy will be the continued maintenance of a softer fiscal policy than in the baseline scenario. The budget deficit, excluding grants in revenues, will amount to 18% of GDP in 2025 (13.5% of GDP in the baseline) and 12% of GDP in 2026 (7.5% of GDP in the baseline). The government will continue to spend heavily on infrastructure, social welfare, defense, and security. Their impact on the budget deficit will be partially offset by additional measures to mobilize budget revenues at 3.5% of GDP, the NBU added.
According to its forecasts, large budget deficits in 2025-2026 will be financed by both additional domestic and external borrowings. In particular, the alternative scenario envisages international assistance of $28.7 billion in 2025 and $18.5 billion in 2026, compared to $25.1 billion and $12.6 billion in the baseline scenario, respectively. “As a result, this will make it possible not to resort to monetary financing of the budget,” the NBU said.
According to the alternative scenario, budget deficits will lead to an increase in public and publicly guaranteed debt, which will approach 100% of GDP at the end of the forecast period.
The NBU added that the inflation trajectory will be similar to the baseline scenario, but it will require more significant spending of international reserves: consumer inflation will temporarily accelerate to 8.6% at the end of 2024, followed by a decline to 5.5% at the end of 2025, compared to 8.2% and 6.0% in the baseline scenario, respectively.
To cover the larger structural deficit in the foreign exchange market, the NBU will spend more of its international reserves. Therefore, despite the higher external financial assistance, the reserves will remain almost unchanged in 2024 and will decrease over 2025-2026 to $33 billion, while in the baseline scenario they will amount to $39.3 billion at the end of 2026.
“At the same time, such volumes of reserves will allow us to continue to gradually ease currency restrictions,” the NBU said.
As reported, Ukraine’s GDP, according to the State Statistics Service, grew by 5.3% in 2023 after a 28.8% decline in 2022.
Earlier, Experts Club and Maxim Urakin released a video analysis of how the GDP of the world’s countries has changed in recent years, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=BsZmIUERHSBJrO_3
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
The Business Activity Expectations Index (BAEI), calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), rose to 45 in February from 37.5 in January (index values from 0 to 100) and continued to remain below the neutral level (50), according to a survey of enterprises published by the NBU on Wednesday.
“In February 2023, the BAEI was 45.0, up from 37.5 in January 2023. In February, companies significantly softened their negative expectations for their economic performance. Economic activity is gradually reviving across all sectors, apart from the construction sector,” the central bank said, commenting on the results of the index.
As the National Bank said, the revival of companies is being held back the most by power shortages, higher production costs because of purchases of uninterruptible power supplies and fuel, and depressed consumer demand.
The NBU said that companies markedly improved their views about their trade turnover, purchases of goods for sale, and inventories/stocks of goods for sale.
In addition, respondents remained downbeat about their total staff numbers, the DI being 43.2, down from 44.5 in January.
At the same time, expectations of both growth in purchase prices and the cost of contractors’ services, as well as prices/tariffs for own products/services, softened.
The National Bank said that the gradual revival of power supply and purchases of uninterruptible power supplies softened the pessimistic expectations of industrial companies in February, as the sector’s DI moved to 47.2, up from 40.6 in January 2023.
“Respondents declared intentions to step up production (for the first time since October 2022), while also expecting an increase in the number of new export orders for products (for the first time since February 2022), the DIs being 50.7 and 50.4 respectively, up from 34.0 and 39.6 in January. While remaining negative, respondents’ expectations for the number of new orders for products improved noticeably, the DI being 48.6, up from 38.0 in January,” the NBU said, describing the situation in the industry.
Respondents markedly improved their views about their trade turnover and the amount of goods purchased for sale, the DIs being 47.4 and 46.8 respectively, compared to 21.6 and 23.7 in January.
“Respondents expected a decrease in their inventories/stocks of goods for sale, the DI being 51.1, down from 61.9 in January. Companies reported weaker intentions to cut their trade margins, the DI being 46.3, up from 39.2 in January. Respondents slightly softened their expectations of a rise in purchase prices, the DI being 30.0, up from 24.7 in January. At the same time, companies expected the price of goods purchased for sale to rise at a faster pace, the DI being 61.1, up from 54.6 in January,” the NBU added.
Services companies continued to report a gloomy economic outlook, the DI being 43.2 in February, up from 37.2 in January. Respondents significantly softened their negative expectations for the amount of services provided, the number of new orders, and the amount of services that are being provided, the DIs being 43.8, 42.6 and 46.9 respectively, compared to 35.2, 34.4 and 38.8 in January.
“With less strong expectations of a rise in purchase prices, companies reported weaker intentions to raise their selling prices, the DIs being 23.8 and 58.6 respectively, compared to 18.4 and 60.4 in January,” the regulator said.
Construction companies reported the most guarded views about their economic performance on the back of seasonal factor, consumers’ weak purchasing power and power shortages, the DI being 33.5 in February, down from 34.5 in January. Companies worsened their negative expectations of the amount of construction work done, the DI being 28.6, down from 30.0 in January. At the same time, respondents expected a drop in the number of new orders and in purchases of raw materials and supplies, the DIs being 28.6 and 31.0 respectively, compared to 27.5 and 25.0 in January.
