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Business Environment Index, August 2026
The RSPP Environment Index records a modest recovery, with the Composite Index rising by 0.9 points to 43.3 points, breaking a three-month streak of consecutive declines. Nevertheless, the index remains significantly below the 50-point threshold, indicating a persistent predominance of negative assessments of business conditions.
Product Market and Pricing Trends
The Product Market Index edges down by a further 0.4 points to 43.6 points, following a sharp 2.5-point drop in July. Procurement price assessments improve slightly, with the indicator gaining 1.7 points to 24.7 points, as the share of companies reporting rising procurement costs declines marginally from 52.3% to 51.7%. Selling prices continue their downward trend, losing 0.9 points to 52.0 points, though the indicator remains in positive territory as price increases still outnumber price decreases.
Demand dynamics present a mixed picture. Sectoral demand, which had risen by 2.3 points in July, fell sharply by 4.6 points to 40.7 points, with 25.6% of companies reporting a decline. In contrast, demand for companies' own products or services improves by 1.4 points to 44.1 points, recovering some of the previous month's losses; the share of negative assessments in this category falls by 8.9 percentage points to 21.3%, though the share reporting growth also declines by 4 percentage points. The competition indicator stabilizes, rising by 0.4 points to 56.6 points after a sharp drop in July.
B2B Index
The B2B Index remains virtually unchanged at 45.8 points, down just 0.1 points from July. The new orders indicator returns to positive territory, gaining 2.6 points to reach 51.4 points, recovering the ground lost in July when it fell below 50 points for the first time since April 2026. Order fulfillment timelines continue to worsen, with the indicator edging down by 0.5 points to 46.3 points following a steep 5.2-point decline in July. Outstanding obligations to counterparties lose 0.5 points to 47.2 points, while obligations from counterparties fall more substantially by 1.9 points to 38.2 points, as the share of companies reporting an increase in overdue obligations from counterparties rises by 2 percentage points.
Logistics Index
The Logistics Index continues its negative trajectory, declining for the fourth consecutive month from 50.4 points in April to 41.9 points in August, with a monthly drop of 2.1 points. The deterioration is likely linked to persistent fuel shortages, which are constraining supply, increasing transport costs, and complicating delivery schedules. The overall logistics conditions indicator falls by 3.3 points to 37.4 points, with the share of companies reporting worsening conditions rising from one-fifth in July to 29.2% in August. The inventory levels indicator leaves positive territory for the first time since December 2025, dropping by 2 points to 48.9 points, while average delivery times lose 1.1 points to 39.3 points.
B2G Index
The B2G Index returns to decline, falling by 1.2 points to 47.4 points after a 1.9-point rise in July. Relations with banks and financial institutions drop by 2.7 points to 45.8 points, reverting to June levels after July's improvement, as the share of negative assessments nearly doubles from 6.9% to 12.4%. Relations with government authorities also deteriorated, with the indicator falling by 1.1 points to 48.6 points, the lowest level recorded in the past year of observations. Relations with foreign partners hold steady at 47.8 points.
Financial Markets Index
The Financial Markets Index rises by 0.7 points to 41.4 points, following July's one-and-a-half-year low. The financial position of companies improves by 1.4 points to 40.4 points, as the share of respondents reporting a substantial deterioration in their financial position falls by 5 percentage points, despite the overall distribution of positive, neutral, and negative assessments remaining largely unchanged. The stock market indicator edges up by 0.9 points to 41.0 points, while currency market assessments dip slightly by 0.3 points.
Personal Assessments Index
The Personal Assessments Index records the largest raise among all RSPP business climate indices, rising by 8.5 points to 39.6 points, recovering most of the ground lost in July when the index fell to a year-low of 31.1 points. The share of respondents reporting a deterioration in the business climate falls sharply from 38.4% to 24.7%, as companies shift significantly toward neutral assessments.
Social and Investment Activity
Investment activity continues to contract, with 64% of surveyed enterprises reporting investment projects in August, a further decline of 6.9 percentage points following a 6.1-point drop in July. Among these, 71% are proceeding without changes to schedules or budgets, while 22.6% report delays and 14.5% have been forced to reduce investment budgets. Only 3.2% of companies are operating ahead of schedule, and 8.1% report increased investment volumes.
Hiring activity falls to 69.7% of organizations, a decline of 10.5 percentage points, while layoffs are reported by 9% of companies. Measures to reduce working hours are implemented by 14.6% of firms, largely unchanged from the previous month.
Social programs for employees remain in place at 84.3% of participating firms, with programs supporting other categories of citizens present at 49.4% of companies. The most common employee social programs include vouchers for health and children's recreation (69.7%), additional payments beyond the Labor Code (63.2%), transport provision (63.2%), and meal provision (57.9%). Budgets for employee social programs remain unchanged at 77.9% of companies, while 15.6% report an increase and 6.5% report a reduction.
Approximately 64% of organizations continue to participate in measures to reduce labor market tensions. Advanced training for employees is provided by 41.6% of companies, internships are offered by 37.1%, and one-third of surveyed firms operate temporary employment programs for the population.