For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the majority of businesses named insecurity as the main obstacle to doing business. Find out what else entrepreneurs consider to be serious obstacles and how their attitudes have changed recently

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April 2024 was the first month in the last two years when the majority of businesses recognized that insecurity was the main obstacle to their operations. These changes are evidenced by the monthly New Monthly Enterprises Survey (#NRES), which was conducted by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting in April this year.

Read this article to find out how many companies foreigners have opened in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

What are the most serious obstacles to doing business during the war?

According to the survey, the biggest obstacle to doing business is insecurity. This was stated by 55% of Ukrainian businesses. The authors of the study note that the increase in the share of enterprises that believe that it is dangerous to work is significant and is the highest figure for the entire period of research since May 2022.

It should be noted that in March of this year, the share of enterprises that considered danger to be the main obstacle was 46%. And for the same period last year, namely April 2023, it was only 25%.

At the same time, as noted by the Executive Director of the IER Oksana Kuzyakiv, the trend of the shortage of skilled workers, which has been observed since September last year, has also significantly increased this spring. 

Thus, the share of companies that found it more difficult to find qualified employees increased from 38.9% in March to 43% in April. 

However, according to experts, the rating of obstacles to business has not changed significantly, only the ranking of the previously mentioned items has changed.

"The three main obstacles to doing business remained the same as last month, but in April the "leader" was the danger of working (55% of respondents), the second place was occupied by the growth of prices for raw materials, supplies, and goods (51%), and the third place was occupied by the lack of labor (43%). The importance of the danger to work has increased significantly for large and medium-sized businesses," summarized IER expert Yevhen Angel.

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Are there any positive changes for business?

As Oksana Kuzyakiv emphasized, we have faced unprecedented optimism regarding the vision of the financial and economic situation at the enterprise and in the country as a whole in the six-month perspective. 

Thus, business expectations regarding the 6-month perspective: both the financial and economic situation at the enterprise and the general economic environment in Ukraine are positive. And this assessment of experts has been maintained for the second month in a row. 

The uncertainty of the six-month prospects of enterprises' activities was declared by 20% of the surveyed companies, and as the IER Director noted, this can be considered a basic level. 

We remind you! In the first quarter of 2024, a record number of new businesses were registered in Ukraine. The number of newly opened sole proprietorships over the past three months exceeds the figures for pre-war 2021. Read what kind of business and in which regions Ukrainians are most actively opening in our previous article.