Share of AmCham member companies fully operational in Ukraine reaches 72% - research

MOSCOW. Aug 24 (Interfax) - The share of member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (AmCham) that are fully operational is 72%, while 27% are functioning to some extent. The shares stood at 41% and 50% respectively 50 days after February 24.

A survey published by the AmCham on Tuesday and quoted by the Ukrainian media says that 60% of companies do not expect any change in business climate in Ukraine before the end of this year, while 31% are expecting it to worsen, and 9% are anticipating an improvement.

According to the survey, 96% of member companies are planning to continue their operations in Ukraine in 2023 and 4% have yet to make up their mind.

As for salaries, 83% companies say they are paying salaries in full, 16% have cut salaries, and 1% have stopped paying salaries. Back in the middle of April, salaries were paid in full by 88% of companies (including 16% which also paid bonuses), 6% of companies cut salaries, and 6% halved salaries.

Speaking of the most pressing challenges, 71% of companies mentioned the security and protection of employees (79% in April), 44% spoke about logistics and transportation (50%), 34% referred to the lack of clients or orders (36%), 33% pointed to a decline in the activity of partners (fewer than 3%), and 22% named export-import operations (26%).

The survey said that 68% of the respondents maintain their presence in Ukraine and 32% remain abroad. A larger part of AmCham member companies (56%) have about 75% of their staff in Ukraine, while 14% have about 50% of their staff in Ukraine, 13% have 85-90% of their staff in Ukraine, and 11% have 95-100% of their staff in Ukraine.

The poll was conducted on August 18-23 and involved 117 heads and top managers of AmCham member companies. Company heads constitute 84% of all respondents, while 16% are top managers.