Increase in outflows of private capital from Russia

Preliminary balance-of-payments figures show that Russia’s net private-sector capital outflow went on in the second quarter. The net outflow from the private sector increased over the past four quarters to nearly 5 % of GDP. This was due mainly to capital outflows from the banking sector, while the net outflow of capital from the corporate sector remained at around the equivalent of 2 % of GDP.

The inbound flow of foreign direct investment from abroad to Russia’s corporate sector has remained very small over the past four quarters (about 0.5 % of GDP). Although the figure for the outflow of capital from Russia’s corporate sector in the form of outbound FDI has shrunk a bit, the four-quarter ratio was still about 1.5 % of GDP.

The other relatively significant capital flows for the corporate sector have involved foreign borrowing and lending. Russian firms generally have continued to pay down their foreign debt at a fairly steady pace, including the second quarter, while reducing their receivables related to foreign trade rather notably.