Balance of Payments - Estimate

May 2026

The essentials:

The Bank of Russia published the estimate of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation for May 2026 and revised the estimate for April 2026 due to the receipt of additional reporting data as of 15 July, 2026.

The current account surplus in May 2026 amounted to $8.1 billion (the updated value of April 2026 – $6.2 billion, May 2025 – $0.9 billion). The significant increase in the current account surplus compared to May 2025 was mainly driven by the rise in the value of exports.

The current account surplus in January-May 2026 grew to $27.0 billion from $21.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2025 primarily owing to the increase in trade balance surplus.

Key Aggregates in May 2026:

• the trade balance surplus amounted to $14.2 billion (April 2026 – $11.0 billion; May 2025 – $7.4 billion). The rise in indicator year-on-year was associated with the exports growth, including through an improvement in the price environment;
• the negative balance on services year-on-year insignificantly decreased amounting to $4.4 billion (April 2026 – $3.2 billion; May 2025 – $4.6 billion), driven by the outstripping exports growth, primarily in transport services. The deficit rise compared to April 2026 was caused by the seasonal increase in travel imports;
• the total deficit in primary and secondary income reduced year-on-year to $1.7 billion (April 2026 – $1.6 billion; May 2025 – $1.9 billion) owing to the more significant increase in income receivable compared to income payable;
• external assets (excluding reserve assets) rose by $7.9 billion (April 2026 – $6.8 billion; May 2025 – $0.5 billion) and were attributable to, among other things, time lags in payments for Russian exports and growth in accounts receivable;
• external liabilities growth amounted to $7.9 billion (April 2026 – $3.3 billion; May 2025 – $1.6 billion) as a result of the increase in indebtedness on loans, dividends accrued to non-residents and international trade settlements;
• reserve assets rose by $1.7 billion ($0.1 billion decrease in April 2026).

Key Aggregates in January-May 2026:

• the trade balance surplus increased to $52.3 billion ($46.0 billion in January- May 2025) as a result of the outstripping exports of goods growth compared to imports;
• the deficit in the balance on services grew by $1.2 billion compared to the indicator in January - May 2025 and amounted to $16.5 billion primarily due to the services imports increase mainly driven by travel and transport services;
• the total deficit in primary and secondary income remained virtually unchanged amounting to $8.8 billion ($8.9 billion a year earlier): the reduction in the negative balance of compensation of employees and investment income was offset by the increase in the deficit in secondary income;
• external assets (excluding reserve assets) grew by $32.9 billion (by $23.8 billion in January- May 2025): residents increased their investment in both foreign direct and portfolio instruments and loans. As exports expanded, non-residents’ indebtedness on international trade settlements rose (decline in January-May 2025);
• external liabilities increased by $11.5 billion ($4.9 billion a year earlier) owing to, among other things, the growth in funds on non-residents’ accounts as well as portfolio investment and loans;
• reserve assets decreased by $5.1 billion (by $8.4 billion a year earlier).