Less than a quarter of Russia's business leaders have stated that the situation in their companies has deteriorated, which may indicate that the general sentiment in the Russian economy is picking up after a spate of sanctions, according to the 2022 CEO Barometer survey conducted by the consulting company Yakov & Partners.
The survey showed that various industries had been affected in different ways. The most optimistic views on the current position of their companies were voiced by representatives of Banking, IT & Telecom, Retail, and E-Commerce. However, 36% of respondents representing the mining and manufacturing industries complained that their situation had deteriorated.
Speaking about the prospects of their companies for the next six months, more than 75% of respondents said they were certain their current position would improve or remain unchanged. Representatives of Banking and IT & Telecom were the most positive in this respect, too. On the other hand, representatives of Energy and Metals came up with more negative forecasts.
“Our data indicate that some industries have recovered after the events of this spring, and reflect certain negative expectations in the mining sector in connection with the possible production activity deceleration across the world. Meanwhile, the Russian business has successfully weathered the initial shock, and is looking to the future with optimism”.
The overwhelming majority of respondents (63%) said that foreign trade bans and possible expansion of sanctions were the most critical challenges. Business representatives were the least concerned about the erosion of domestic purchasing power, inflation, and climate change.
“One of the salient features of 2022 was the rapid shift of the focus of company leaders to issues related to the possibility to engage in foreign trade operations, and talent acquisition. Conversely, the topics that have dominated the public agenda for the last several years, including environmental protection, COVID-19, or SME business environment, are currently marked as important by less than 5% of all respondents. Therefore, in the near future we can expect the large Russian business to make considerable efforts to diversify its international ties”.
Even though reduction of costs and adaptation of supply chains were named as priorities by more than one third of all respondents, the leaders have not entirely lost their appetite for investment and business development. Many company leaders said that in the next six months they would prioritize further growth of production of goods and services, expansion into new geographic markets, and launch of new investment projects.
Anonymous survey questionnaires were completed by 115 managers of companies from all key branches of the Russian economy, including Banking, IT & Telecom, Metals, Oil & Gas, Mining, Retail, E-Commerce, Agriculture, Chemical Industry, Engineering, and Energy. Invitations were sent out to managers of companies with RUB 1+ billion annual turnovers.
