According to the assessments of firms in non-construction industry and in services with 20 or more employees, sales recorded strong growth in the first nine months of the year, in both the domestic and foreign markets. About 70 per cent of industrial firms and 60 per cent of service firms expect to regain or exceed pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.
Firms, especially in the industrial sector, are facing widespread difficulties in procuring production inputs, mainly owing to their rising prices or unavailability. A broad majority of firms believe that these difficulties will not be overcome before the first quarter of 2022. Despite this, about half of them expect sales to expand over the next six months.
Corporate profitability improved markedly compared with 2020, and so did the dynamics of hours worked and employment. The investment plans made at the end of last year, which were expansionary on average, were carried out as scheduled by two thirds of firms. As for the remaining businesses, most of them spent more than they had initially planned, owing above all to positive developments in demand. For 2022, firms expect investment to increase further across all the sectors considered in the survey.
In the construction sector, firms' assessments of output trends improved markedly, also owing to the contribution of the public works segment. Employment benefited, with firms' expectations of an increase once again significantly exceeding those of a decrease. Expectations for 2022 point to a further strengthening of production.
