Page 54 - RusRPTFeb23

5.0 External Sector & Trade 5.1 External sector overview
While high commodity prices drove Russia’s export revenues to historical highs, imports started to contract sharply last spring due to sanctions and the collapse of the ruble’s exchange rate.
Limits on capital flows and economic sanctions have reduced capital flight from Russia, so Russia’s record-high export earnings largely remain in Russia. This initially led to sharp ruble appreciation, but recently these trends have reversed. Preliminary data suggest the volume of Russian oil exports declined in December and export prices fell. The drop in export revenues has led to a decline in Russia’s current account surplus and depreciation of the ruble.
5.2 Balance of payments, current account
According to the Bank of Russia’s preliminary estimate, the current account surplus of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation in 2022 amounted to $227.4bn, having increased almost 2 times compared to 2021.
Key Aggregates in details:
· increase of the current account was related to a significant expansion of the surplus of balance on goods and services as a result of growth in the value of supplies due to a rise in world prices for the main goods of Russian exports;
· in general, in 2022, the value of imports of goods and services reduced, nevertheless, decline in the imports observed in the first half of 2022 compared to last year’s indicator was replaced by their gradual recovery;
· growth in total deficit in primary and secondary income was mainly related to dynamics of personal transfers, including compensation of employees: receipts from non-residents reduced, while payments abroad rose;
· significant expansion of financial account surplus of the balance of payments was formed by both the reduction in liabilities to non-residents and commensurate growth in foreign financial assets.
Imports value into Russia in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased at a slower pace y/y, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reported on January 26.
The positive change was driven by the reorientation of imports to countries that had not introduced sanctions against Russia and by the expansion of parallel imports, the CBR said in a report.
54 RUSSIA Country Report February 2023 www.intellinews.com