In December, the business community of Ukraine maintained a cautious outlook on economic activity; however, the indicators significantly exceeded last year’s levels. This is evidenced by the results of a survey of 603 enterprise managers conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine.
This is reported by Business • Media
Factors Influencing Business Activity in December
Among the main negative factors affecting the economy, respondents mentioned the deterioration of the security situation, power outages, increased production costs, damage to production and logistics capacities, a shortage of skilled workers, as well as seasonal factors.
At the same time, experts also noted positive shifts. In particular, these include an increase in consumer demand, stable international support, an increase in the supply of food products, and a slowdown in inflationary processes.
Survey Results: Varying Sentiments Across Industries
The business activity expectations index in December was 49.2, slightly lower than in November (49.4) but significantly higher than the December 2024 figure (45.9). This is the highest result for December since the surveys began.
Trade enterprises demonstrated the greatest optimism among all surveyed sectors, which is linked to the increase in food supply, seasonal demand growth, and a slowdown in inflation. Meanwhile, the industrial sector has maintained the most cautious assessments for the second consecutive month. The reasons include power outages, rising production costs, and a shortage of qualified personnel.
However, the NBU noted that the situation in Ukraine’s labor market has eased.