OREANDA-NEWS. Improvement in investment indicators continued into August 2016 as the rates of decline in construction were slowing down and some further rise in imports of machinery and equipment were reported, according to the September issue of information and analytical commentary ‘Economy: Facts, Evaluations and Commentary’.

However, the conservative corporate investment policies, the uncertainty over future trends in demand, coupled with the moderately tight lending terms for corporate borrowers, are still key constraints to investment.

Although resumed expansion in industrial output was reported in August, this process has yet to become a truly sustainable trend. This is confirmed by both the low rates of growth in industrial production and mixed performance data seen across various product categories.

Outputs of raw material, investment and intermediate goods were somewhat down year-on-year. To defy this, the positive developments seen in several sectors were still there. In this way, August saw a continued rise in the output of individual engineering products. External demand lent support to outputs in the chemical sector and the wood-working industry.

A marked growth was reported in consumer goods, on the back of rising outputs of high tech products (household appliances, cars, etc.). The solid crops were behind the strong agricultural output data.