According to a study conducted by the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER), 59% of surveyed Ukrainian industrial enterprises made capital investments in 2025, 14 percentage points higher than in 2024, when 45% of companies undertook such investments. IER’s Executive Director, Oksana Kuzyakiv, highlighted that this figure represents a record since the onset of the Great War and slightly exceeds pre-COVID levels.
The scale of investment varies with business size: only 26% of microenterprises invested, contrasted with 55% of small businesses, while medium and large companies registered much higher rates at 61% and 82% respectively. Industry leaders in capital investments include metal production and metalworking (71%), food production (69%), and the chemical industry (68%).
Regarding investment directions, 71% of companies allocated funds to repair or replace outdated equipment, and 30% focused on expanding production volumes, significantly surpassing the 2023 level of 18%. Other key priorities included improving design, branding, and marketing (29%), personnel training (28%), and expanding product ranges (26%).
In addition to growth initiatives, 10% of respondents restored damaged equipment, and 4% repaired damaged premises. In comparison, the share of scheduled building maintenance dropped to 21%, down from 28–32% in previous years.
Looking ahead to 2026, 51% of companies plan to invest, 16 percentage points more than at the beginning of 2025. Among them, 73% intend to maintain their funding levels, 10% plan to increase it, and 17% expect to reduce it. Regarding the current environment, 43% view it as relatively favorable for acquiring new equipment, 55% as unfavorable, and 2% as very favorable.
Businesses cite economic uncertainty (46%), security risks to personnel and assets (39%), high borrowing costs (30%), insufficient profits (28%), and debt increase risks (17%) as the primary obstacles to investment. Additionally, 16% of entrepreneurs highlight the absence of war risk insurance and weak product demand as challenges. Meanwhile, concerns over political instability have lessened, dropping to 17% from 27% a year earlier. Only 9% of enterprises report no barriers to investment in 2026.
