The essentials:
The Bank of Russia revised the estimate of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation for January – April 2025 due to the receipt of additional reporting data as of June 16, 2025. The first estimate for May 2025 will be released on 11 July, 2025.
The current account surplus in April 2025 was $3.8 billion against $7.7 billion a month earlier. Its weakening in April 2025 was caused by a contraction in the trade balance surplus. The reduction of the surplus in April 2025 was caused by a decrease in the trade surplus due to both reduced exports and increased imports compared to March 2025.
The current account surplus in January – April 2025 decreased to $21.9 billion from $30.9 billion in the corresponding period of 2024 due to the reduction of the trade balance surplus as well as the expansion of deficit in the balance on services and primary and secondary income.
| Aggregates | January – April 2025(estimate) | January 2025 (estimate) | February 2025 (estimate) | March 2025 (estimate) | April 2025 (estimate) | For reference: January – April 2024 | For reference: April 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current account | 21.9 | 2.9 | 7.6 | 7.7 | 3.8 | 30.9 | 7.1 |
| Trade balance | 39.5 | 7.5 | 11.1 | 11.8 | 9.0 | 46.6 | 11.8 |
| Balance on services | -11.0 | -3.0 | -1.9 | -2.7 | -3.4 | -10.0 | -2.6 |
| Balance on primary and secondary income | -6.5 | -1.7 | -1.6 | -1.4 | -1.8 | -5.6 | -2.1 |
| Net acquisition of financial assets, excluding reserve assets | 20.6 | 7.8 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 30.1 | 5.3 |
| Net incurrence of liabilities | 0.4 | 2.6 | -0.3 | 0.3 | -2.3 | -3.8 | 0.5 |
| Reserve assets | -7.8 | -3.0 | -1.5 | -1.5 | -1.9 | -4.9 | 2.0 |
Key Aggregates in April 2025:
- the trade balance surplus reduced to $9,0 billion relative to the updated value of March 2025 due to the reduction in exports of goods and growth in imports;
- the deficit in balance on services rose to $3.4 billion by $0.7 billion compared to the previous month figure;
- the total deficit in primary and secondary income made up $1.8 billion ($1.4 billion a month earlier);
- external assets (excluding reserve assets) grew by $3.2 billion against $3.5 billion a month earlier mainly due to the growth in other investment;
- external liabilities reduced by $2.3 billion (grew by $0.3 billion in March 2025), the main contribution was made by the decrease in other investment.
Key Aggregates in January – April 2025:
- the trade balance surplus declined to $39.5 billion against $46.6 billion a year earlier due to a drop in exports with stable imports. The estimate was revised upwards following the receipt of the reporting data of the FCS of Russia;
- the deficit in the balance on services rose to $11.0 billion ($10.0 billion a year earlier) as a result of growth in imports of services due to the increase in Russians’ spending during foreign trips;
- the total deficit in primary and secondary income increased to $6.5 billion ($5.6 billion a year earlier);
- external assets (excluding reserve assets) rose by $20.6 billion ($30.1 billion in January – April 2024): they were mainly formed by other investment;
- the growth of external liabilities of the economy amounted to $0.4 billion (decline by $3.8 billion in the comparable period of 2024) due to the growth in direct investment mainly in the form of reinvested earnings accrual as well as a slowdown in the net repayment of foreign loans.