Page 73 - RusRPTSept22

5.2 Balance of payments
Since the procedure was launched in May 2022 the “parallel imports” have brought $6.5bn worth of goods into Russia, or about $2bn-$2.5bn monthly, expecting to reach a total of $16bn by the end of 2022, the Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and the Minister of Industry and Trade estimated as cited by Interfax and Kommersant daily. In order to overcome the crisis caused by the sanctions for Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine, Russia has allowed so-called “parallel imports” of goods without the permission of the copyright owner. As argued by bne IntelliNews, contrary to the widespread picture of the new Iron Curtain painted in the media, due to the “parallel imports” Russia’s largest retailers are still restocking on Western consumer goods and are even expanding their warehouse capacities.
According to the Bank of Russia’s preliminary estimate, the current account surplus of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation in January — July 2022 continued to grow and amounted to $166.6bn, having increased by more than 3 times compared to the corresponding period of 2021.
· current account dynamics was determined by widening of surplus in the balance on goods and services as a result of significant growth in the value of exports of goods and a decline in the value of imports;
· total deficit of other components of the current account remained at the level of the previous year;
· the financial account surplus of the balance of payments was formed due to both decrease in liabilities to non-residents and growth in foreign financial assets.
73 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com