Results from the 2022 EIB survey on Investment and Investment Finance (EIBIS)

EIBIS is an annual EU-wide survey that gathers information on investment activities among small and medium-sized businesses and larger corporates. Specifically, EIBIS collects data on firm characteristics and performance, past investment activities and future plans, sources of finance, financing issues and other challenges that businesses face.

Ipsos supported the development and implementation of the survey across all EU member states and the United States of America. Data was collected from a representative sample of around 12,800 businesses.

As highlighted in the EU27 report, across the EU, the survey found the following:

• European firms were emerging from the effects of COVID-19 in relatively good shape and with a generally positive outlook.
• The share of EU firms having invested in 2021 remained relatively stable compared to 2020 (81%), below pre-pandemic shares (of around 86%). However, EU firms had positive expectations on investment for the whole of 2022, with 20% more firms expecting to increase rather than decrease investment.
• The pandemic was a major shock for EU firms, but policy support was sizable and helped them to survive and transform. Overall, roughly 60% of EU firms have received some form of financial support in response to COVID-19, mostly in the form of subsidies or other assistance that does not need to be paid back.
• Compared to EIBIS 2021, more firms report having acted or made investments to become more digital (53% vs. 46% in EIBIS 2021). Furthermore, the share of firms putting effort into supply chain shortening nearly doubled (from 10% to 19%).
• Almost 90% of EU firms have faced international trade-related disruptions since 2021. Of those, nearly 60% report having taken action to mitigate the impact of these disruptions.
• Compared to all the previous EIBIS rounds, there has been a surge in the share of firms reporting energy costs as a constraint on investment (82%), especially those viewing it as a major barrier (59%).
• About 53% of EU firms have already invested in climate change, and more than half plan to invest over the next three years. Compared to the United States, the European Union continues to forge ahead, both in terms of the share of firms that have invested and the share of firms planning, over the next three years, to invest in tackling climate change.
• EU firms lag behind the United States when it comes to striving for gender balance (58% vs. 62%).

Technical note
Fieldwork was conducted by telephone between May and August. Random samples were drawn from Bureau van Dijk’s ORBIS database, covering businesses with five or more employees operating in sectors NACE C-J, with quotas set on firm size and sector. Data are weighted to this universe.