Almost half of industrial companies assessed the sanctions positively or neutrally

Almost half – 47% – of business leaders reported a generally positive or at least neutral effect of the sanctions. This conclusion was reached at the National Research University Higher School of Economics based on a survey of top managers of almost 2,000 Russian companies in the manufacturing industry. The report “New Opportunities for Russian Companies” is available from Vedomosti. Over a quarter of respondents (28%) said they were able to use the prospects opened up thanks to the sanctions: almost one in ten firms (9%) managed to increase their share in traditional markets, 7% of firms found niches for new products, 6% entered new markets, 4% attracted qualified personnel, follows from the document.

In total, the sanctions affected 65% of companies, according to the survey. Among those who somehow felt the restrictions, the proportion of respondents who assessed the sanctions positively is significantly lower – 23%. The rest claim that the measures against Russia affected their business negatively. The key problems for them were the rise in prices for raw materials, materials and components in the domestic market (for 41% of companies), difficulties with the import of necessary goods and services (31%), as well as problems with logistics (22%), with the import and maintenance of equipment (19%). At the same time, the share of small, medium and large firms that experienced any difficulties due to sanctions was approximately the same. But a number of specific sanctions problems – with imports, logistics, severing relations with foreign partners, payments, and reducing foreign demand – were much more typical for large businesses.