January 19 (SeeNews) - Over half, or 54% of Austrian companies active in the Central and Eastern European (CEE), predict the economic climate in the countries where they have subsidiaries to worsen in the coming 12 months, with only 11% forecasting an improvement, a survey by Advantage Austria, the state trade promotion agency, showed.
Over the past 12 months, as much as 49% of the respondents found a deterioration in the economic climate and conditions of the economy in the country in which their subsidiaries were based, Advantage Austria said in its Global Business Barometer 2023 survey published earlier this week.
The survey presented findings from 1,797 companies active in 51 countries in Europe, North and South America and Asia, with the CEE region covering Austrian subsidiaries operating in Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The companies were most optimistic on regulatory and market-based conditions in digitalisation and infrastructure, with shares of 60% and 50% respectively anticipating very good or rather good conditions. By contrast, perspectives on the availability of qualified labour and the cost of raw materials drew predominantly negative appraisals.
Out of over 100 executives of Austrian companies active in Bulgaria, 47% had pessimistic expectations for the business environment in 2023, relatively unchanged from 45% last year, in the context of the fallout from the ongoing war in Ukraine, supply chain difficulties and energy crisis. About 41% do not expect significant changes while some 12% expect an improvement.
Looking ahead, only 36% of company executives forecast an increase in turnover from Bulgarian operations in 2023, as opposed to 65% reporting turnover growth in 2022. Respondents included representatives of A1, EVN, OMV, Vienna Insurance Group – Bulstrad, Uniqa and Palfinger.
Austria is the origin of the second-highest share of investments in Bulgaria, or 5 billion euro ($5.4 billion), according to central bank data cited by Advantage Austria.
($ = 0.9242 euro)