The Balance of Payments in 2019

Abstract

In 2019, Russia’s trade surplus shrank significantly as result of a declining value volume of exports which, in its turn, was pushed down by sliding prices of oil and increasing imports. Meanwhile, net capital outflow that had been observed in 2018 gave way to net capital inflow, to the value of $ f 1.8bn, secured by an increase in the public sector’s foreign liabilities and a slower-than-in-2018 rate of growth displayed by those of the private sector. International reserves by the year end surged above $ 554bn, thus hitting their record high of the entire period after the global financial crisis. Due to the application of the budgetary rule (which made the ruble less dependent on the oil price movement pattern) coupled with the financial account surplus, the ruble’s exchange rate against foreign currencies became stronger.