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One in five top managers in Russia agree sanctions positive for business, poll says

More than a half of Russian corporate CEOs believe the sanctions imposed on Russia adversely affected business management

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. More than a half of Russian corporate CEOs believe the sanctions imposed on Russia adversely affected business management but 20% of them believe that these restrictive measures have in fact helped their business, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) says in its research.

"Each fifth executive believes that the introduction of sanctions bolstered the Russian market. The largest number of executives noting the sanctions’ positive effect on Russian business is among those working in the agricultural sphere (40% against the average value of 19%)", the research says. Two percent of respondents view the impact of sanctions on Russian business as positive and 18% saw them as "more likely to be positive," the research reports.

At the same time, 59% of Russian companies’ senior managers believe that sanctions against Russia produced a negative effect and 15% estimated such impact as "extremely negative."

"We should brace for the fact that these sanctions will endure for a long time. It would be a strategic mistake to expect that a year or two will pass and everything will settle by itself. However, outside pressure always creates an internal motive for mobilization, for enhancing performance. You either crumble or become more efficient," President of Interros Group Vladimir Potanin told PwC in an interview.

Meanwhile, 16% of respondents hold the opinion that these sanctions have not influenced Russian business.

The poll covered 1,001 chief executives of Russian major companies, mid-sized and small enterprises. Interviews were conducted from mid-September until early November 2018 and covered all the production spheres and Russia in its entirety as far as geography is concerned.