Page 45 - bne IntelliNews monthly country report Russia February 2024

"Limiting Russia’s supply of imported goods was one of the goals in order to destabilize the socio-economic situation in our country. Taking into account the fact that in 2021 unfriendly countries accounted for about 50% of all imports, this was extremely dangerous. But already in 2022, the share of imports from unfriendly countries decreased to 35% and to 29% in 2023," he said.
At the same time, Belousov noted that the total volume of imports has already exceeded the figures for 2021 and has grown to around $300 bln. Belousov clarified that this was reached by launching a parallel import mechanism, through which necessary goods worth more than $70 bln were imported into the country.
At the same time, the share of settlements in rubles and friendly currencies in 2023 increased to 65%. "In 2023, the total share of the ruble and the national currencies of friendly countries will be 65% in payments for the export and import of goods and services. For comparison, in 2021 it was only 22%," he said.
According to Belousov, the volume of Russian exports to the markets of friendly countries in 2023 increased by 60% compared to 2021 and reached $360 bln.
US House passes bill banning import of uranium from Russia. The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Dec. 11 to pass a bill banning the import of Russian uranium. A majority of uranium used by the U.S. is purchased from abroad. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that in 2022, 12% of the total amount of uranium used by nuclear power plants in the U.S. was purchased from Russia, making it the third largest supplier.
5.2.2 Current account dynamics
The overall current account surplus fell at the end of 2023 in line with goods trade dynamics, significantly limiting FX inflows. While the surplus bounced back moderately to $17.0bn in Q3 2023, it remains 78% below its peak in Q2 2022. This improvement was driven by a larger goods trade surplus but also a much smaller income and transfers deficit.
In KSE’s December updated forecast, oil and gas exports will reach $225bn in 2023, $186bn in 2024, and $176bn in 2025. Considering the Q3 2023 outturn of current account components, KSE projects an overall surplus of $55bn for 2023.
45 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com