The essentials:
The Bank of Russia published the first estimate of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation in August 2024 and revised the estimates for April — July 2024 due to the receipt of additional reporting data as of September 12, 2024.
The current account balance in August 2024 amounted to $2.5 billion against $1.6 billion deficit in July 2024. The change in current account balance is due to a significant decline in the deficit of balance on investment income.
In January — August 2024, the current account surplus totaled $40.5 billion ($29.0 billion a year earlier). The key driver was an increase in trade balance surplus by $11.7 billion, which was primarily related to a reduction in imports of goods.
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billions of US dollars |
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|
Aggregates |
Q2 2024 |
July |
August |
January — August 2024 |
For reference: |
For reference: |
|
Current account |
17.0 | -1.6 | 2.5 | 40.5 | 5.4 | 29.0 |
|
Trade balance |
35.6 | 8.7 | 8.4 | 86.4 | 11.7 | 74.7 |
|
Balance on services |
-9.6 | -4.2 | -4.3 | -25.3 | -4.1 | -24.3 |
|
Balance on primary and secondary income |
-9.0 | -6.1 | -1.6 | -20.6 | -2.2 | -21.4 |
|
Net acquisition of financial assets, excluding reserve assets |
13.4 | 2.9 | -2.0 | 38.0 | 5.5 | 26.9 |
|
Net incurrence of liabilities |
-2.8 | 3.3 | -10.1 | -16.6 | 1.1 | -2.3 |
|
Reserve assets |
-1.3 | -0.6 | -2.7 | -11.5 | -1.0 | -7.7 |
Key Aggregates in details in August 2024:
- the trade balance surplus slightly decreased to $8.4 billion (July 2024: $8.7 billion) due to the decline in both world prices for some Russian exports and physical volumes;
- the total deficit in primary and secondary income amounted to $1.6 billion (July 2024: $6.1 billion) after a seasonal increase resulted from dividends accrual in favor of non-residents;
- foreign assets (excluding reserve assets) reduced by $2.0 billion (July 2024: growth by $2.9 billion) that was affected by a decrease in balances in foreign banks accounts;
- external liabilities reduced by $10.1 billion (July 2024: growth by $3.3 billion) mainly as a result of the repayment of previously declared dividends;
- reserve assets declined by $2.7 billion (July 2024: by $0.6 billion) as a result of transactions with the funds of the National Wealth Fund, as well as an increase in volume of currency swap transactions.
Key Aggregates in January – August 2024:
- the trade balance surplus grew to $86.4 billion against $74.7 billion in January – August 2023 primarily due to the decline in imports. The estimate in July 2024 was increased for both exports and imports of goods, taking into account the received reporting data from the Federal Customs Service;
- the deficit in balance on services ($25.3 billion) and the total deficit in primary and secondary income ($20.6 billion) are close to indicators of January – August 2023;
- foreign assets (excluding reserve assets) grew by $38.0 billion (by $26.9 billion a year earlier) due to the growth in other investment as well as increased lags in settlements for foreign economic activities;
- the reduction in external liabilities made up $16.6 billion ($2.3 billion in January – August 2023), which was mainly associated with the reduction in liabilities on raised loans, as well as direct investment;
- international reserves declined by $11.5 billion (by $7.7 billion a year earlier) mainly as a result of transactions with the funds of the National Wealth Fund and transactions to regulate foreign exchange currency liquidity based on currency swap transactions.