Survey of Current Business (January-April 2018)

Sergey Aukutsionek – Head of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Andrey Yegorov – Research fellow of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Inessa Bachirova – Senior Research fellow of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tatyana Serzhantova – Senior Research fellow of the Center for Transition Economy Studies, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In January 2018, the majority of REB indicators significantly improved. Many of them usually noticeably fall down in the first month of the year (due to long New Year holidays,) but in January 2018 they decreased less dramatically. The diffusion index of output wasn’t so high in January since 2004, and the diffusion index of output and input prices ratio set a record for January for all 26 years of observation. With great optimism REB respondents in January also looked into the future: the three-month expectations of the diffusion index of output increased in comparison with the previous month by 14 points and of wages – by 11 points. The diffusion indices of three-month expectations of financial situation and of the order-book level also showed good growth.

Key words: industry, industrial enterprises, price level, wages, employment, output, investment, indebtedness to banks, order-book level, stocks of finished products, capacity utilization rate, risk of bankruptcy, economic policy, crisis duration.