KIEV, July 22 – More Ukrainian companies are forecasting a worsening in the economic situation in the country.

According to a poll of almost 1,300 companies conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine in Q2, the assessment of the prospects for the economy for the next 12 months fell by 27.4%, to minus 52.5% (the difference between positive and negative answers).

However, companies hope that problems in the national economy would not affect them, and the balance of expectations in the further improvement of the financial and economic state of companies in next 12 months remained at the level of Q1, 2008, at 28.5%.