-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.
The beginning of each year is traditionally a quiet time for business activity in the service sector, but this time the situation was determined not only by seasonal factors. Negative values in the business confidence index (BCI) were recorded for virtually all types of services. Even a stable leader – the insurance business – is going through difficult times; in the first quarter of this year, the BCI for this area fell to a negative value (-4%) for the first time.
Entrepreneurs who offer motor vehicle maintenance and repair services, as well as advertising and tourism services, expressed the greatest pessimism. In these segments, the BCI is down more than 20 percentage points.
These data are presented in a new Monitoring the Business Climate in Services study that was conducted 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.
+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.
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.
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.
31%
of construction companies are experiencing a shortage in graduates from educational institutions who have either technical training or who specialize in a trade.
72%
of Russian managers at small industrial companies note that one of the main factors limiting production is the uncertainty surrounding the current economic situation.