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Russian firms deal with challenge of customers stopping working to pay financial obligations, says service lobby

Customers failing to pay on time was the prominent factor hampering Russian companies in the 3rd quarter, major organization union RSPP said on Friday, as business grapple with high rates of interest and logistics difficulties.

The Bank of Russia last week treked its essential rate of interest by 200 basis indicate 21%, the highest level given that the early years of President Vladimir Putin's rule, and a growing number of Russian industrial companies are alerting that prohibitively high obtaining costs might hurt infrastructure development.

Of those who reacted to the Russian Union of Industrialists and Business Owners' (RSPP) quarterly study of the Russian economy and company activity, almost 37% said non-payments ranked initially among functional problems. That compared with 22% in the previous quarter's study.

Compared to the results for the second quarter, the intensity of problems increased due to getting worse conditions for transferring items, instability on the FX market and rising rates for domestic and imported items, the RSPP said.

Payment troubles with foreign counterparties reduced to 21% of respondents, from 28% in the previous quarter.

Russia is facing payment concerns due to Western sanctions over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, especially for deals with China.

Several participants cited labour shortages and the central bank's high essential rate as other problems hindering operations, the RSPP said.

(source: Reuters)