BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/04
Contractions in Russian exports and imports intensified
Preliminary CBR balance-of-payments figures show export earnings on goods and services in the fourth quarter of 2014 fell 19 % in dollar terms and 12 % in euros. Spending on imports of goods and services fell by the same rate. For all of 2014, exports were down 6 % and imports 9 % in both dollar and euro terms. The current account remained in surplus.
Full-year 2014 export earnings were down especially as regards gas and crude oil, while earnings from petroleum products also slid in the fourth quarter. Other goods exports remained fairly stagnant, and exports of services declined. Goods imports contracted 10 %. Spending of Russian travellers abroad, as well as other services imports, fell 5–6 %. In the fourth quarter, the contraction in goods imports deepened to 19 % (12 % in euro terms) and traveller spending plunged by over 20 % y-o-y.
Main balance-of-payments categories for Russia, 2013–2014
Source: CBR