Page 25 - RusRPTDec20

A better situation in the next six months was expected by 17% of respondents in the mineral production industry and 22% in the processing industry. The number of optimists in the mineral production sector exceeded the amount of pessimists by 8 percentage points, and in the processing industry by 10 percentage points.
The business activity expectations of Russian private firms in October have fallen to their lowest since comparable data were first available in late-2009​, IHS Markit reported in its latest IHS Markit Business Outlook survey.
As reported by ​bne IntelliNews​, ​Russia’s October services PMI index​, also compiled by IHS Markit, recorded the sharpest decline in business activity since the start of the pandemic.
The latest outlook by IHS shows that among Russian private firms the net balance expecting an increase in output (+6%) compared unfavourably with the global average (+26%).
“The sustained impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on demand and business operations weighed notably on firms’ expectations for output, employment and investment over the coming year," IHS Markit economist Siân Jones commented.
"Manufacturers and service providers alike registered notable drops in optimism, with the former also signalling the lowest confidence towards future business activity since data collection for the respective series began in January 2008," the report warns.
25 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ December 2020 www.intellinews.com