In the russian economy, the problem of nonpayments worsened noticeably during the first five months of 2026. This was reported by UNN, citing the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
Details
According to intelligence data, enterprises’ overdue accounts receivable reached $112.53 billion (8.99 trillion rubles), 9.9% higher than at the beginning of the year. Its share of total accounts receivable rose from 6.2% to 6.7%, while the number of companies with overdue debts increased to 18,298.
The main reason is that buyers and customers are taking longer to pay their bills. As a result, money does not reach suppliers, who then postpone their own payments, and the chain of nonpayments spreads throughout the economy. The situation is aggravated by high lending rates, slowing economic growth, and the reorientation of state resources toward financing the war against Ukraine
At the same time, even the Kremlin-affiliated Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting acknowledged that official statistics do not show the full picture.
Companies often do not recognize debts as overdue, but simply change the terms of contracts or postpone payment deadlines. As a result, the real scale of nonpayments is significantly greater than the official figures
In addition, the growth of overdue debt indicates that Russian businesses are increasingly replacing bank loans with delayed payments to their counterparties. With interest rates so high, this has become one of the few ways to keep enterprises operating.
This model makes the economy more vulnerable to cascading nonpayments. At the same time, the further channeling of state and credit resources into the military-industrial complex will only intensify the shortage of funds in civilian sectors and deepen imbalances in the Russian economy
We remind you
According to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, foreign investors have begun to divest from toxic Russian securities.
In addition, the Russian government is no longer able to raise the necessary funds on the market and is forcing state-owned banks to purchase federal loan bonds.