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“Optimism was buoyed by hopes of an end to the pandemic and the release of pent-up demand once restrictions are eased. The degree of sentiment strengthened and was the highest since August, but it was still below the long-run series average (since 2001),” Markit said.
But the bounce-back is still probably six months away, and in the meantime firms are still struggling to maintain profitability and continue to cut staff. Russian service sector firms reduced their workforce numbers at a solid rate at the end of 2020. The rate of job shedding in December quickened slightly from that seen in November.
4.3.2 Corporate profits dynamics
Corporate profits bounced back strongly in October on the back of the summer’s rapid recovery from the lockdowns in the second quarter that saw retail sales recover to about the same level as they were at in September 2019.
Russian companies earned a cumulative total of RUB8,425bn ($114bn) by the end of October, on a par with the profits to October in 2017, but still well behind the RUB11,552bn in 2018 and RUB13,002bn in 2019 when the post-2014 recovery was gathering some real momentum.
58 RUSSIA Country Report January 2021 www.intellinews.com
