Large companies expect easing inflationary pressures and decreasing public burdens

According to large company managers, both inflationary pressure and expectations related to public charges have changed positively this year – according to the third quarter research data of the K&H Large Company Growth Index. The good news is that the proportion of companies whose operations were negatively affected by changes in the forint exchange rate has decreased. Inflation no longer has a significant impact on the operations of nearly one-fifth of large companies (17%), while the proportion of those who believe that it negatively affects efficient operations has been continuously decreasing since the beginning of the year: 5 percentage points fewer people feel that exchange rate fluctuations negatively affect them compared to the beginning of the year. The downward trend is more spectacular when looking at the smaller negative impact: the proportion of those calculating a slight negative impact decreased from 76 to 68 percent.

“The easing pressure also creates opportunities for large companies to take a breather and think about how they can optimize their operations in the future. It is practically the end of the year, and the new year always holds new opportunities, accordingly, they are waiting for the new year with larger-scale developments”

– Tibor Bodor, Head of K&H Corporate Business, said regarding the results.

Expectations regarding public charges also improved during the year. Compared to the last quarter of last year, the proportion of those who expect taxes and duties affecting their company to increase has decreased by nearly 40 percentage points. Currently, only about a quarter of decision-makers are expecting this in the next 12 months. The majority (70%) have decided on stagnation, and only a more modest 5 percent of companies are expecting rising public charges. In terms of sectoral breakdown, the individual industries are mostly moving together, with the only significant difference visible in trade: in their case, 28 percent are still pessimistic about their expectations, while only 23 percent of industrial companies and 22 percent of service providers are calculating rising public charges. Interestingly, the latter are the most optimistic, because in their case, 6 percent of them specifically expect falling public charges, while 3 percent of the leaders of the trade sector and 4 percent of the leaders of industrial companies are planning this way.