EBA polls 134 Ukrainian companies, 54% of them continuing to pay full wages

KYIV. April 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The European Business Association (EBA) has surveyed 134 of over 1,000 Ukrainian companies that are its members to find out that 54% of them are continuing to pay wages to their employees in full, down from 63% of such companies a month ago, the EBA said in a statement on Wednesday.

The survey showed that 14% of the companies that had previously suspended operations have resumed them fully or partially. On the whole, 28% of CEOs said their companies are now fully operational.

"One-third of the EBA companies are already fully operational. This was reported by 28% of directors of EBA member companies. The majority, namely 68% of companies, currently work partially or with certain restrictions. Almost half, namely 47%, limited the geography of their activities, 21% moved online, and 19% were forced to close some offices, outlets, or branches," the EBA said in a statement following a survey conducted from April 15 to 25.

Only 4% of the companies are currently not working at all, while there were 29% of such companies in early March, it said.

Most companies (54%) are continuing to pay their employees in full, with 31% also making additional or advance payments, "although two months ago there were slightly more of such companies - 63% and 45% respectively." At the same time, 7% of the companies have sent their employees on unpaid leaves, 3% have resorted to partial layoffs, and 1% are unable to make payments, it said.

Of the 15% of companies that had to cut payments, three-quarters have cut them to 50%. Some companies have cut pays to workers who are currently unable to work, or have switched to pay-per-hour format, "so that not to leave them without earning completely." At the same time, some companies reported an increase in employees' salaries this year, it said.

Most of the businesses have improved their estimates of financial resilience, with 36% saying they can hold out for another six months, 26% for a few months, 18% for a year, and another 16% for more than a year, and only 3% reported that their financial reserves were exhausted. A month ago, 43% said they had enough reserves to operate for a few months and only 17% for a year or longer, it said.

Over the past two months, 42% of the companies polled have incurred losses amounting up to $1 million, 34% between $1 million and $10 million, and 16% more than $10 million. "The estimated total loss of the companies surveyed was more than $518 million. One month ago, our companies reported a total loss of about $350 million," the EBA said.