KYIV, May 2 – The Business Activity Expectations Index (BAEI), calculated by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on a scale from 0 to 100, dropped by 2.4 points in April to 49.4 – 2.9 points below its April 2024 level of 52.3, the regulator reported on its website.

"In April, businesses slightly weakened expectations of their current economic performance, which approached the neutral level… A significant worsening in weather conditions, protracted uncertainty about the further course of the war, rising business costs for raw materials and labor, accelerating inflation, the weakening of the UAH/EUR exchange rate, and shortages of qualified staff were some of the reasons for this," the NBU said.