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Russia: a brief market watch
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 03 Aug 2023

In the past two weeks, the ruble has continued to depreciate against major global currencies. On the first days of August, a month which is traditionally associated with greater volatility on Russia's financial markets, it at some point surpassed the R/$94 level, which was last observed in March ...

The economy looks decent in 1H23, albeit inflation accelerates
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 02 Aug 2023

Rosstat reported that the output of the five basic sectors grew y-o-y by 8.9% and 3.3% in June and 1H23. Earlier Rosstat reported that industry was up by 6.5% and 2.6% over the same periods (also y-o-y). Agricultural output grew by 2.6% and 2.9% (same periods, also y-o-y). These numbers don’t loo...

Russian macro: industry to grow steadily in 2023, but capacity issues may hamper future growth
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 28 Jul 2023

Rosstat reported that Russia’s industrial output increased by 2.6% y-o-y in 1H23, by 6.3% in 2Q23 and by 6.5% y-o-y in June alone. Recall that industrial output contracted by 0.9% y-o-y in 1Q23. There are still strong base effects associated with last year's 1H22 shock caused by the special milit...

Russia: a brief market watch
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 20 Jul 2023

The new attack on the Crimea bridge and the termination of the "grain deal" made investors nervous again, which prevented the ruble from moving below the R/$90 benchmark. At the same time liquidity in the banking sectors is shrinking, and the cost of funding is rising. The latter means that in th...

The current account narrows in 2Q23 but could widen in 3Q23 amid a weaker ruble, while the latter will support budgetary revenue
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 12 Jul 2023

The CBR reported that Russia's current account surplus narrowed to $5.4 bn in 2Q23 from $20.2 bn in 1Q23. The regulator also mentioned that in June alone, the current account surplus turned negative. Note, that these data are very preliminary and will be revised in the future. Nonetheless the 2Q2...

Russia political pandemic update: Perplex, perplex, perplex
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 06 Jul 2023

After nearly a year and a half since the start of the special military operation, it looks as though its timing and outcome are becoming less and less clear and obvious. Russia’s standoff with the West is set to last for generations, and what now happens in Ukraine might look secondary for histor...

Russia: a brief market watch
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 06 Jul 2023

The attempted military coup accompanied by a further escalation in Ukraine (with some media speculation about a potential “incident” at the nuclear plant) pushed the ruble exchange rate down. Ruble reached the R/$90 mark for the first time since March 2022. The narrowing of the current account su...

Russian macro: The Russian economy in 2023—Transition 2.0 in progress
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Forecast · 30 Jun 2023

Recent statistics published by Rosstat suggest that the Russian economy continues to recover from the epic 2022 shock and multiple aftershocks that keep coming in the form of regular sanctions. Businesses and the economy in general had to react to these changes as it became clear to almost everyo...

Economy continued to recover in May
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 28 Jun 2023

Recent statistics published by Rosstat suggest that the Russian economy keeps recovering from the groundbreaking 2022 shock and multiple aftershocks that keep coming in the form of regular sanctions. The new data suggest that the output of the five basic sectors grew y-o-y by 2.1% in 5M23 and 8.7...

Russia: a brief market watch
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 23 Jun 2023

The CBR decided to keep the key rate unchanged (at 7.5%) earlier in Jun but sent a hawkish signal to the market. The latter lifted the OFZ yield curve higher. The 10-year papers are now traded above 11%. The last time this level was in the spring of 2022. Many investors see a threat of potential ...

Russian macro: The economy gradually adjusts to geopolitical changes
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 21 Jun 2023

Rosstat published 1Q23 GDP statistics (on the production side, so far), and it appears that the y-o-y economic contraction was not as deep as the previous flash estimate suggested. GDP fell by 1.8% y-o-y (instead of the 1.9% reported previously), which is not much compared with the -4.5%, -3.5%, ...

The current account surplus appears narrower than reported previously
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 09 Jun 2023

The CBR published its updated estimates of selected items of the current account for 4M23 and the 5M23 data. It appears that reality now looks somewhat different relative to the previous perception. According to the CBR’s release a month ago, the current account surplus in April and 4M23 was $5.2...

Russia: a brief market watch
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 09 Jun 2023

Some acceleration of inflation during the last week to 0.21% w-o-w caused some nervousness among investors. Given the previous moderately hawkish rhetoric of the CBR, many didn’t rule out that the regulator could have raised the key rate today. We didn’t see the necessity to do that, as overall C...

Russian political/pandemic update: crises as usual
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 07 Jun 2023

It looks as though the mood of the Russian society was probably somehow shaken by drone attacks that occurred in several cities, including Moscow. Apart from that, May was a relatively quiet month for the majority of Russians (except for those living in the regions close to the Ukrainian borders)...

The Federal budget in balance in April as spending moderated
RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 07 Jun 2023

The Ministry of Finance reported that in 5M23, the federal budget deficit was almost the same as in 4M23 (R3.4 trln), implying that in April, it was balanced (in fact, there was a tiny surplus). Spending moderated last month as the ministry spent slightly over R2.0 trln. Average monthly spending ...

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