In the 4th quarter 2002, the share of firms that consider regulatory climate as a significant impediment to business development has increased to 38.8% (vs 30.5% in the 3rd quarter 2002). In the list of impediments to production unfriendly regulatory environment” still ranks third (see IMPEDIMENTS TO PRODUCTION). Managers’ perceptions of quality of regulatory environment are still low. The level of state interference in operational decisions of the firms constitutes the only exception: it has been decreasing over the last 12 months and presently is considered to be low (index value equals 0.50).