Most businesses are not satisfied with the support measures that the authorities have taken in 2020-2022 to mitigate the impact of the crises in this period.
Such data were obtained in the survey "Perception of anti-crisis measures of the government by business for the last 22 years", conducted by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Policy (CAPE). According to the survey, 70% of businesses in various industries were affected by the pandemic. Companies faced rising prices, declining customers and declining sales, difficulty paying rent and taxes, loans, etc. At the same time, most companies were able to retain their employees, although most of them claim to be feeling the effects of the demographic crisis, facing labor shortages. During the pandemic, companies faced disloyal competition from illegal businesses, a violation of government procurement procedures, and a lack of markets. Companies had to take a number of measures to overcome the crisis: reduce production costs, cancel investment plans, suspend activities, reduce administrative costs, reduce employee salaries, etc. Business noted that over the past 2 years, energy prices and all expenses rose, while revenues decreased. Evaluating the support of the government in 2020-2022, about 18% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the measures taken by the government, 44% were not satisfied, and 31% had a neutral opinion. At the same time, 83% of respondents are satisfied and very satisfied with the digitalization package program. 27% of companies are grateful for the mechanism of compensation for the first 500 cubic meters of consumed natural gas, but only a small fraction of companies took advantage of it. More than 63% of businesses are grateful for the delay in reporting and payment of taxes and fees, 59% - are satisfied with the abolition of the need to issue tax invoices for purchases via bank cards. Business does not consider compensation for reduced working hours and compensation for technical downtime, as well as interest subsidies on bank and non-bank loans to be sufficiently effective. The study showed that 34% of companies were severely and 39% were somewhat affected by the war in Ukraine, with small and micro enterprises being the most affected. Sanctions against Russia did not affect 89% of respondents. In the next six months, business expects the following difficulties: rising prices for raw materials, higher production costs and lower volume of products, delayed payment by customers, departure of employees, reduced consumption, etc. The poll also showed the existence of difficulties in ensuring the quality of public-private partnership: the state cannot make quick decisions to overcome the crisis, the bureaucracy and corruption remain, there is a lack of political will of the parliamentary majority, there is a lack of information, and in some cases there is a surplus, etc. The poll was conducted from April 1 to 14 and covered 107 companies and 24 business associations. Data was collected by several methods, including in-depth interviews with company directors. //20.06.2022 - InfoMarket.
