+4%
was the index of business confidence in retail trade. The indicator’s value increased after six months of being in a critical zone near zero.
Among the reasons for the positive changes in the sector is that trading activity traditionally becomes more active in the spring and summer. However, even that was not enough to ‘shake’ all retail segments. While the effect of ‘summer optimism’ largely spread to the food trade sector, the market for non-food goods remained depressed.
These data are presented in a new Monitoring the Business Climate in Retail Organizations study that was conducted in the second quarter of 2015 by the Centre for Business Tendency Studies at the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK).
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30%
of entrepreneurs in service industries reported a decrease in consumer demand for their services in the fourth quarter of 2015.
2%
of representatives of small manufacturing companies who are prepared to take out long-term loans to develop and modernize their operations would agree to do so at rates comparable to the current rates of 18-21%.
15%
of directors at Russian industrial companies in October reported a decrease in the number of employees compared to September.
5%
of industrial managers view the current economic situation at their enterprises as ‘favourable’.
–14%
was the level to which the business confidence index in building materials production fell in May of this year.
-12%
was the level to which the business confidence index in the service sector fell in the first quarter of 2015. This is a record decline. For the year, the value of the index has fallen by 10 percentage points.
30%
of entrepreneurs in the retail sector reported that they had reduced headcount in their organizations in the fourth quarter of 2014. Compared with the beginning of the year, the trend with respect to headcount reductions has doubled.
2 percentage points
was the amount by which business confidence in industry grew over the last month, reaching the level of 3%.
31%
of construction companies are experiencing a shortage in graduates from educational institutions who have either technical training or who specialize in a trade.