Russian businesses faced a sharp increase in arrears in public procurement contracts in 2025. According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service data, since the beginning of the year, 1,173 cases have been initiated for non-payment of obligations, which is 20% more than last year, writes The Moscow Times.
Complaints from small businesses have increased 2.5 times: if last year 200 complaints were filed, targeting overdue payments of 1.5 billion rubles in public procurement contracts, since the beginning of this year, 482 cases have already been reported, totaling 3.6 billion rubles.
“Often, there is simply no payment capacity: the economy is stagnating, profits are falling, and state structures are becoming blocked,” noted the Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Elena Dîbova.
The profit of “Rosneft”, the largest state company in the raw materials extraction and production sector, has dropped three times. “Gazprom” recorded losses of 170 billion rubles from the gas business in the first nine months of the year.
For the first time in the last five years, the “Russian Railways” company did not generate a profit, being forced to cut procurement expenses by about 40%. And “Uralvagonzavod” – the country’s main tank manufacturer – has made massive staff reductions. Staff numbers at Sberbank have also been reduced by 20%.
Rosstat data confirms: the overdue payments of Russian companies to suppliers exceeded 3.8 trillion rubles at the end of August.
Natalia Orlova, chief economist at Alfa Bank, explained the situation by the slowdown in the growth of budgetary expenditures: revenues in the oil and gas segment are plummeting, non-oil revenues are lower than planned, forcing authorities to reduce social spending.