The essentials:
The Bank of Russia published the estimate of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation for May 2025 and revised the estimate for January – April 2025 due to the receipt of additional reporting data as of 11 July, 2025.
The current account surplus in May 2025 was $3.0 billion against $3.6 billion of the revised value in April 2025. Its slight weakening was mainly caused by an increase in the deficit in balance on services.
In January-May 2025 the current account surplus reduced to $24.3 billion from $37.2 billion in the corresponding period of 2024 primarily due to a weaker trade balance.
| Aggregates | January – May 2025(estimate) | January 2025 | February 2025 | March 2025 | April 2025 (estimate) | May 2025 (estimate) | For reference: January – May 2024 | For reference: May 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current account | 24.3 | 2.9 | 7.3 | 7.5 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 37.2 | 5.2 |
| Trade balance | 47.9 | 7.5 | 11.0 | 11.7 | 9.0 | 8.7 | 59.1 | 12.1 |
| Balance on services | -15.8 | -3.0 | -2.0 | -2.8 | -3.5 | -4.5 | -12.5 | -3.1 |
| Balance on primary and secondary income | -7.7 | -1.6 | -1.6 | -1.4 | -1.9 | -1.2 | -9.4 | -3.8 |
| Net acquisition of financial assets, excluding reserve assets | 26.5 | 8.3 | 6.3 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 34.5 | 4.2 |
| Net incurrence of liabilities | 3.5 | 2.7 | -0.1 | 0.8 | -1.7 | 1.9 | -2.7 | 1.1 |
| Reserve assets | -8.4 | -3.0 | -1.5 | -1.5 | -1.9 | -0.7 | 7.9 | -2.9 |
Key Aggregates in May 2025:
- the trade balance surplus amounted to $8.7 billion remaining virtually unchanged versus the revised figure of April 2025;
- the deficit in the balance on services expanded to $4.5 billion mainly due to the seasonal increase in Russians' spending during foreign trips;
- the total deficit in primary and secondary income reduced to $1.2 billion ($1.9 billion a month earlier), primarily driven by a reduction in the amounts of dividends payable to non-residents by large Russian companies;
- external assets (excluding reserve assets) grew by $3.7 billion ($4.0 billion a month earlier) mainly due to the growth in other investment;
- external liabilities rose by $1.9 billion (dropped by $1.7 billion in April 2025) primarily owing to the growth in direct investment, including those in the form of reinvested earnings and debt financing;
- reserve assets contracted by $0.7 billion (by $1.9 billion in April 2025).
Key Aggregates in January – May 2025:
- the trade balance surplus declined to $47.9 billion against $59.1 billion in January-May 2024 due to both reduced exports and increased imports. The estimate for April was revised upwards for both exports and imports following the receipt of the reporting data of the FCS of Russia;
- the deficit in the balance on services expanded to $15.8 billion from $12.5 billion in January-May 2024, mainly due to the increase in imports of services, including travel services;
- the decrease in deficit in primary and secondary income to $7.7 billion from $9.4 billion a year earlier is caused by both a decline in the amount of reinvested earnings of foreign investors and a reduction in dividends payable to non-residents;
- the slowdown in the growth of external assets (excluding reserve assets) to $26.5 billion ($34.5 billion a year earlier) resulted from the partial repayment by non-residents of the indebtedness on outstanding settlements and a decline in the amount of transfers payable;
- the growth of external liabilities of the economy in the amount of $3.5 billion (a decrease of $2.7 billion in January-May 2024) was mainly 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;
- reserve assets declined by $8.4 billion (by $7.9 billion a year earlier).
Department responsible for publication: Statistics Department
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Last updated on: 11.07.2025