KYIV, Oct 2 - The Business Activity Outlook Index (BAOI), calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), in September increased by 1.5 points (p.), to 49.4 after growth in August (by 1 p.) and July (by 1.5 p.), but remains below the neutral value of 50 points and signals the prevalence of pessimistic business expectations.

"Entrepreneurs are still very careful in their assessments. The balance of optimism and pessimism is quite fragile and depends on the development of the situation with pandemic," Yuriy Polovnev, the director of the department of statistics and reporting, said on Facebook.