Balance of Payments - Estimate

February 2026

The essentials:

The Bank of Russia published the estimate of the balance of payments of the Russian Federation for February 2026 and revised the estimate for January 2026 due to the receipt of additional reporting data as of 14 April, 2026.

The current account surplus in February 2026 amounted to $1.6 billion (January 2026 – $0.4 billion, February 2025 – $7.6 billion). The decrease of the indicator relative to the corresponding period of the previous year was due to the exports reduction with imports growth and the increase in the deficit in the balance on services.

The current account surplus in January-February 2026 declined to $1.9 billion from $10.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2025 as a result of the same tendencies.

Key Aggregates in February 2026:

• the trade balance surplus amounted to $5.4 billion (the updated value of January 2026 - $6.5 billion surplus; February 2025 - $11.1 billion surplus). The decline in the trade balance surplus year-on-year was caused by growing imports with exports reduction, while the decrease in this indicator compared to January 2026 is associated with outstripping imports growth compared to exports;
• the deficit in the balance on services estimated at $2.6 billion (January 2026 - $3.4 billion; February 2025 - $1.9 billion). The decrease in the negative balance compared to January 2026 was influenced by a seasonal decrease in Russians’ spending during foreign trips. The year-on-year growth was driven by the increase in travel and other services imports compared to 2025, including construction services;
• the total deficit in primary and secondary income reduced to $1.2 billion (January 2026 - $2.7 billion; February 2025 - $1.6 billion): the year-on year change in the indicator was mainly due to the decrease in conditionally accrued to non-residents reinvested income, and the decline compared to January 2026 was due to the fall in the amount of dividends accrued to non-residents;
• external assets (excluding reserve assets) rose by $3.4 billion ($4.1 billion in January 2026, $6.5 billion in February 2025): they mainly consist of other investment as in the previous year;
• external liabilities increased by $3.1 billion ($4.1 billion in January 2026, -$0.2 billion in February 2025) due to, among other things, the growth of residents’ indebtedness on outstanding international settlements;
• reserve assets declined by $2.5 billion (by $3.0 billion in January 2026).

Key Aggregates in January-February 2026:

• the trade balance surplus decreased to $11.8 billion from $18.4 billion in January-February 2025 due to the exports reduction, including the price factor, and the imports rise;
• the deficit in the balance on services increased to $6.0 billion from $4.8 billion in January-February 2025. A significant role was played by the growth in the cost of Russians’ international travel packages and the rise of other services provided by non-residents, including construction services. The imports increase was partially offset by the expansion of travel and other services exports, including construction, telecommunication, computer and information services, and other business services;
• the total deficit in primary and secondary income grew to $3.9 billion ($3.3 billion a year earlier), which was caused by the increase in dividends payable to non-residents in January 2026;
• external assets growth (excluding reserve assets) slowed down to $7.5 billion ($15.0 billion in January-February 2025) as a result of other investment reduction compared to the same period of the previous year;
• external liabilities rose by $7.3 billion (by $2.6 billion a year earlier) owing to, among other things, the increase in purchases of sovereign securities by non-residents and residents’ indebtedness on outstanding international settlements;
• reserve assets decreased by $5.5 billion (by $4.4 billion a year earlier).