The survey of heads of 552 enterprises showed that the National Business Perception Index (NBP Index) in Uzbekistan made up 27.6 in the fourth quarter of 2011. This means that share of enterprises, which recorded the growth of production, exceeds share of the companies, which had negative result, by 27.6%.

Average annual NBP Index figure grew, the CER said. The average NBP Index for 2009 was 16.2 and for 2010 – 20.8. The average NBP Index for 2011 is 31.1. The CER said that the trend corresponds to high growth of GDP (real GDP growth in 2009 was 8.1%, 2010 – 8.5% and 2011 – 8.3%).

In the first quarter of 2011, the business activity level is expected at 27.1. Some 307 enterprises (55.6%) indicated the growth of income, which resulted in high NBP Index on this component (44.1). High figure of NBP Index on income is the result of the growth of sales of goods and services (NBP Index on revenue – 47.3). In the fourth quarter of 2011, 269 enterprises or 48.7% of all respondents said that the price of produced goods increased (NBP Index on price – 40.9) and it is expected that the figure will be high in next quarter (36.3).

Out of 552 surveyed enterprises, 41.3% of responders rated business environment is positive and 56.3% respondents said the business environment is satisfactory, while 2.4% - unsatisfactory. In the result of the Business Climate Index (BCI) in the fourth quarter of 2011 made up 38.9 points, which is 8.2 points down compared to previous quarter. In January-March 2012, the CER forecast that BCI will be at the level of 38.2.

The CER said that all regions of Uzbekistan showed positive business activity (over 10 points) in October-December 2011. Enterprises of Jizzakh region show very high results of business activity in last two quarters of 2011 (48.6 and 48.3 respectively). The NBP Index is less than 20 points only in Ferghana and Kashkadarya regions.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the enterprises were offered to answer to question “Do you know advantages of marketing? Do you want to conduct marketing research of your market?”

According to survey result, majority of enterprises (82.3%) believe that it is important to hold marketing researches and prefer to hire marketing companies. They also believe that market research is important for launch of new product. Only 14.1% of respondents conduct marketing research before adopting strategic researches.

The NBP Index is calculated quarterly from July 2009 and reflects current state in economy and perspectives of business development. The index calculated on the base of survey of heads of 552 enterprises of Uzbekistan from all 14 regions of Uzbekistan and covers 5 main sectors of economy – industry, agriculture, construction, transport and communications, trade.

The NBP Index can be from -100 to +100. If index is equal to 0, it means that current situation did not change compared to previous quarter. If index is higher than 0, the situation improved, if less than 0, it is worsened.

The NBP Index is a joint initiative of Center for Economic Research and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan aimed at elaborating a toolkit for assessment and short-term forecasting of business activity dynamics.