INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Seven in 10 European businesses expect to cut their investments in Russia this year as Western sanctions over the Ukraine invasion and
70% of the surveyed European businesses said they expect their investments to decrease against the previous year
Only 7% expected an increase and 20% no changes in their strategies.Nearly half of the surveyed European businesses said their companies had
planned but suspended new investments in 2022 due to the crisis
Almost one-quarter said they had to suspend investments in current projects.Companies have had to cut marketing budgets (47%), change
investment plans (41%) and postpone the launch of new products (32%) so far in 2022 in response to the crisis.Asked about what had the most
negative impact on their business, 60% of the surveyed AEB members named transport restrictions, 52% export/import restrictions and 42%
sanctions targeting Russian financial organizations.Still, 65% of the businesses that employ an average of 1,400 staff each said they plan
to keep their personnel compared with 17% that reported staff cuts.Almost four out of five said they kept their numbers of foreign highly
qualified employees unchanged this year, while less than one in five said the number has decreased.AEB carried out its 15th annual survey
among 107 of its 500 members between April and June 2022.
