Estimate of Key Aggregates of the Balance of Payments of the Russian Federation

The essentials:

The Bank of Russia published the estimate of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation for September 2025 and revised the estimate for January – August 2025 due to the receipt of additional reporting data as of 14 November, 2025.

The current account surplus in September 2025 amounted to $8.1 billion (August 2025 – $1.0 billion deficit, September 2024 – $6.3 billion surplus). This was primarily driven by an increase in the trade balance surplus as well as a decline in the deficit in the balance on services and in the balance on investment income.

In January-September 2025 the current account surplus reduced to $30.1 billion from $49.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2024 due to the decline in trade balance surplus and the growth in the deficit in the balance on services.

Key Aggregates in September 2025:

• the trade balance surplus amounted to $13.6 billion (the updated value of August 2025 - $7.4 billion surplus; September 2024 - $11.9 billion surplus). The main cause was the rise in exports, primarily mineral products. Imports of goods grew by $0.9 billion mainly due to increased imports of machinery and equipment, vehicles and other goods;
• the deficit in the balance on services declined to $3.8 billion (August 2025 - $6.0 billion deficit; September 2024 - $3.6 billion deficit). The key factor was the seasonal drop in the outbound tourist flow resulting in the reduction in imports of services. Deficit reduction was also influenced by the growth in other services exports;
• the total deficit in primary and secondary income decreased to $1.6 billion (August 2025 - $2.5 billion deficit; September 2024 - $2.0 billion deficit) owing to the reduction of dividends accrued to non-residents;
• external assets (excluding reserve assets) amounted to $2.9 billion ($1.1 billion decline a month earlier) primarily in the form of the increase in receivables and non-residents’ indebtedness on outstanding settlements;
• external liabilities reduced by $5.0 billion (by $2.4 billion in August 2025) as a result of, among other things, the decrease in Russian companies’ debt liabilities to direct investors and the decline in residents’ indebtedness on outstanding settlements;
• reserve assets declined by $2.1 billion (by $2.2 billion in August 2025).

Key Aggregates in January-September 2025:

• the trade balance surplus decreased to $89.2 billion from $100.5 billion in January-September 2024: the reduction of mineral products exports was partially offset by increasing supplies of non-energy goods. Imports remained virtually unchanged;
• the deficit in the balance on services rose to $35.7 billion from $28.5 billion in January-September 2024 owing to the increase in imports of services, both in travel and other services, including construction services. Exports growth was due to the rise in the amount of other services provided to non-residents, including ICT and travel services;
• the deficit in primary and secondary income didn’t change significantly and amounted to $23.4 billion ($23.0 billion a year earlier): the increase in the dollar equivalent of Russians’ personal transfers to foreign households was largely offset by the reduction of investment income accrued to non-residents;
• the slowdown in the growth of external assets (excluding reserve assets) to $30.0 billion from $48.4 billion a year earlier was, among other things, caused by the decline of non-residents’ indebtedness on outstanding settlements;
• external liabilities dropped by $1.6 billion (by $0.4 billion in January-September 2024). The main reason was the reduction of residents’ indebtedness on outstanding settlements and foreign loans;
• reserve assets decreased by $14.9 billion (by $11.4 billion a year earlier).

Current account components, in billions of US dollars