Business confidence in Russia's economy has reached a maximum level over the past two years, according to the survey of the Ernst & Young (EY), multinational professional services firm headquartered in London.
"The survey results show a sharp increase in the number of leaders who believe that the situation is improving both in the world and in Russia," the EY experts noted.
The EY survey was conducted among top managers of Russian large and medium-sized businesses. In March-April, the survey participants were managers from 45 countries, including about 50% of executive directors, financial directors and other senior executives.
Russia's newspaper Izvestia cites the conclusions of the Russian part of the study. In April 2017, 71% of managers assessed the state of Russia's economy as improving - it is a record for two years assessment. In April 2016, only 3% of respondents were so optimistic. At the same time, managers are more optimistic about the prospects of Russia's economy, only 56% say about improving the situation in the global economy (against 26% in 2016).
Such sentiments of top managers also have a positive impact on investors who declare their readiness for profit growth in all markets this year. The EY experts draw attention that expecting of big M&A deals (mergers & acquisitions) and introducing of technological innovations are important factors for improving the mood in the corporate sector.
Professor of the RANEPA faculty of Finance, Money Circulation and Credit, Yuri Yudenkov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that such significant mood swings of Russian businessmen are linked to hopelessness. "There are two ways: either we will give entrepreneurs to carry out their entrepreneurial activities, or sanctions will destroy Russian economy. The state and officials are forced to give Russian entrepreneurs the opportunity to work, as there are no other ways to buy products under sanctions," the expert said.
According to him, the hopes of business are caused by its faith in the leadership of the country. "They believe that if Russia's economy handles it, then entrepreneurship will develop. It is fully understood that the only way for Russia to get out of this situation is to develop its own economy. Therefore, the people, including entrepreneurs, believe that reasonable people still remain in the leadership," Yury Yudenkov noted.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the situation was quite different in 2016, as then officials had the opportunity to buy a wide range of products abroad".
According to the professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics, Alexander Abramov, changes in Russia's business sentiment are due to the fact that the Russian economy has started to show moderate growth. "In addition, a stable ruble and more or less stable inflation are also optimistic factors," he stressed.
At the same time, the expert noted that the figures in the new study reflect a general trend, but at the same time are overestimated. "I do not believe in such a radical change in sentiment, because there are still fundamental problems that frustrate Russian entrepreneurs. Their optimism is usually expressed in a large-scale investment growth. We we are witnessing a relatively moderate increase in investment. But the survey's results are little surprising. But still there is a trend towards people having more hope," Alexander Abramov explained.
He also pointed out that such a serious difference in figures may also indicate the different principles of conducting last year's and current researches. "It's difficult to judge if the same selection of entrepreneurs was chosen. So, the sample bias could also play a role here," the professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics concluded.
