Page 39 - RusRPTFeb22

5.0 External Sector & Trade
According to the Bank of Russia’s preliminary estimate, the current account surplus of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation in 2021 reached record high of $120.3bn, having increased almost 3 times compared to 2020.
Key Aggregates in details:
· current account dynamics was determined by twofold widening of trade balance surplus to $185.9bn as a result of substantial increase of the exports of goods under the influence of favorable market environment with significant lower import growth rates;
· the total deficit of other components of the current account grew by $7.9bn mainly due to paid investment income;
· the surplus of financial transactions in the private sector amounted to $72.0bn against $50.4bn, the decisive role was played by foreign assets acquisition by other sectors, mainly in the form of direct investment, with an almost neutral effect of banking sector transactions;
· significant growth of direct investment of other sectors abroad resulted primarily from the reinvestment of foreign subsidiaries income, as well as an increase of equity of foreign affiliated enterprises;
· international reserves increased by $63.5bn largely due to foreign currency transactions carried out in the domestic foreign exchange market under the fiscal rule, as well as SDR holdings allocation in favour of the Russian Federation.
5.1 External sector overview
Russia's export revenues and imports rose rapidly in 2021, with large inflows of private capital.
According to the Central Bank's preliminary balance of payments data, Russia's exports of goods and services rose in 2021 by about 40% from the 2020 recession. Revenues were quite close to the 2011-14 highs.
39 RUSSIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com