KYIV. July 13 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian enterprises of all types of economic activity expect revival of business activity for a third quarter in a row, according to the results of a second survey of company chiefs conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in the second quarter of 2017.
“Optimistic expectations are based on improving respondents’ forecasts regarding investment expenditures, the financial and economic situation of enterprises, as well as maintaining high expectations regarding total sales of products,” the central bank said in a statement.
In addition, interviewed top managers continue to expect improvement in the macroeconomic situation in Ukraine.
“At the heart of optimistic forecasts of respondents is the expectation of faster growth in production volumes, business activity revival, continued slowdown in inflation and weakening of devaluation processes,” the NBU said.
According to the National Bank, maintaining stability in the foreign exchange market in the second quarter of 2017 contributed to a weakening of inflationary and devaluation business expectations.
“According to the estimates of top managers, the growth of consumer prices in the next 12 months will be 9.9%, while four out of 10 respondents predict that inflation will not exceed 9% or decrease. The number of respondents, who believe that the hryvnia exchange rate against the U.S. dollar will remain unchanged or strengthen, has almost doubled, to 24.6%,” the National Bank said.
At the same time, for the first time since the first quarter of 2014, business said that the impact of the exchange rate factor is not the key factor for the growth of consumer prices. Interviewed businessmen believe that the dynamics of consumer prices, mainly, will determine the cost of production.
The National Bank also reports that the index of business activity rose to 114.3% from 113.3% in the previous quarter. The most optimistic are agricultural producers, representatives of the sphere of trade and processing industry.
Respondents also expect that the growth of production of goods and services in the next 12 months will accelerate. The most optimistic are companies of the processing industry, energy and water supply.
