BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2016/15
Russian export earnings and import spending (EUR), % change y-o-y
Source: CBR.
First-quarter spending on imported goods and services was down nearly 20 % y-o-y, scoring the same amount as in 1Q10. Spending on goods imports was no longer down more than about 15 % y-o-y, while spending on services imports was off almost 30 % due to a pullback in spending of Russian travellers abroad (down well over 40 %).
Due to the huge drop in export earnings, the goods trade surplus was the smallest it has been since the 2009 slump. That, in turn, reduced the current account surplus to an unusually low level (less than $12 billion) despite smaller deficits in services trade and other current account items.