Deloitte Business Sentiment Index1st edition / September 2009 |
Mike Barrington, CEO of Deloitte Central Europe says:
“The Deloitte BSI is a much-needed addition to the business information portfolio of the region. Its findings highlight the value of gathering the views of business leaders from across Central Europe to accurately gauge their outlooks for the economy and their enterprises.”
Cautious optimism is the heartening finding of Deloitte's first Business Sentiment Index – a research-based analysis of the opinions and predictions of Chief Executive Officers of the largest companies within six countries of Central Europe.
Key findings at a glance
Economic outlook
The first index finds that company leaders in Central Europe remain very cautious about the general economic outlook. Over 40% feel it will deteriorate, with just over a quarter believing it will improve.
In Croatia, 90% believe the economy will get worse. But in Poland, executives are very bullish about the economy (over 50% feel it will improve). They consistently gave positive responses to our questions – suggesting that the country is weathering the economic storm better than others in the region.
Company prospects
Opinions about company prospects were more positive than about the general economy, with around 46% optimistic about the future for their companies compared to around 15% expressing negative sentiment. Again, Poland was most optimistic in terms of individual company outlooks (approx. 77%), followed by Slovakia (57%) and Hungary (49%).
Workforce
Over 52% expect their workforce not to change in the following year, with the most confident of stability being Polish executives (around 61% of those surveyed). The most negative responses were in Croatia (over 55% felt their workforces would reduce).
EU funds' availability
A quarter of respondents believe EU grants are fairly or easily available, but twice as many (around 52%) felt the grants were fairly or very hard to obtain. The worst availability of EU grants seems to be in Romania and Slovakia.
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