Russia’s services trade shrinks sharply

BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2016/17

The value of Russian services exports last year was $52 billion and services imports $88 billion. Services accounted for about 13 % of total exports and nearly a third of imports. Russian services trade contracted last year some 25 % y-o-y, a faster contraction than has been seen since the start of the millennium.

The EU is by far Russia’s largest trading partner both in services and goods. The EU accounted for nearly 40 % of Russia’s services exports last year and nearly half of services imports. The services trade is partly related to FDI, which is why one of Russia’s main trading partners is Cyprus. The share of Asian countries and especially China, is notably smaller in Russian services trade than goods trade, only about 10 %. The Eurasian Customs Union countries accounted for 8 % of Russian services exports and 3 % of services imports.

Russia’s top export services are transportation services and miscellaneous business services such as consulting and engineering services. The largest import category by far is travel services, but the share of miscellaneous business services is also significant. Russian imports of travel services contracted by nearly a third last year to $35 billion.

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