Russian Business Becomes More Optimistic – Grant Thornton Study

According to the Grant Thornton International Business Report, Russian business is slowly becoming more optimistic. A year ago, Russia was among the three countries that felt least optimistic for the outlook of their national economies, while this year it has climbed one place and the number of optimistic Russian businessmen has increased by 11% reaching 36%. The global optimism index incorporates the results of the survey of 5,000 business leaders in 32 countries.

South Korea and Japan have become the most pessimistic countries for the second year in a row. Only 16% of businessmen in those countries have a positive outlook. Swedish business is just a bit more optimistic (20%). Malaysia, Thailand and Italy are not too excited about the future either (33% each).

Vietnam (82%), Indonesia (78%) and the United Arab Emirates (77%) are the most optimistic countries. Last year, Ireland, Finland, New Zealand, India and Brazil topped the list.

The global business optimism stands at 59% but despite a slight increase, it is still below the average figures of 2017-2018. Experts say that such results do not contradict the forecast for 2020 providing for extremely low growth rates.

Optimism varies across industries as follows: utilities, agriculture and financial services are the most confident sectors, while retail, manufacturing, mining and education & social services are the least confident ones.

In addition, the Grant Thornton International Report also analyses business expectations about salaries, investments, selling prices, exports, employment figures, regulations and many other topics. Do not hesitate to contact us for any further information.