The 2021 fourth quarter Business Expectation Survey results report has been released. The results suggest that firms are more optimistic about economic activity in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter. The optimism is evident in the anticipated improvement in employment; inventories; sales volume; exports of goods and services; and investment in vehicles and equipment, in the current survey compared to the previous one. However, firms anticipate tight access to credit across all markets. Firms expect cost pressures to rise in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, mainly reflecting second-round effects of the upward adjustment in some administered prices in 2021. Firms expect average inflation to be slightly above the Bank’s 6 percent upper bound in 2021, but expect it to revert to within the medium-term objective range of 3 - 6 percent in 2022.
The report is attached below: