Russian entrepreneurs are optimistic despite the fact that every fifth representative of small and medium-sized businesses believes that sales will fall this year by more than a quarter, says the new report of NAFI Research Centre "Business in a New Environment", summarizing several surveys of entrepreneurs.
By April, the number of entrepreneurs positively assessing their financial circumstances returned to the levels seen at the beginning of the year (34-36%).
NAFI experts believe that the timid optimism of businessmen is primarily based on swift cost cutting: staff layoffs, reducing rent payments and advertising costs. Although another probable reason is that the economy managed to survive the shock period and macroeconomic indicators have stabilized (exchange rates, inflation).
However, most entrepreneurs are still looking for new suppliers to replace the foreign companies that left, and almost half of them continue to count on government support. Despite all this, NAFI believes that entrepreneurs seem to expect a "renaissance of economic stability in the next year or two" but whether this optimism prevails will largely be defined by the actions of the government.