Debts of Russian road builders increased by 147% in six months, over a third of companies on the verge of bankruptcy - intelligence
Kyiv • UNN
Over a third of systemically important infrastructure construction enterprises in Russia are on the verge of bankruptcy due to delays in payment under state contracts. Accounts receivable increased by 147.2% from January to June 2026.
More than a third of the system-forming enterprises of infrastructure construction in the Russian Federation, including road contractors, have found themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. The reason is delays in payment under state contracts, which have only exacerbated existing problems with liquidity and debt burden. This is reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service, writes UNN.
Details
In an appeal to the head of the Russian government M. Mishustin, the president of the RSPP A. Shokhin called for urgent measures to stabilize the situation, warning of the risk of rapid degradation of one of the priority sectors of the Russian economy.
The financial condition of infrastructure companies is rapidly deteriorating. The total losses of transport construction enterprises in recent years have exceeded 3.6 billion US dollars (280 billion Russian rubles). Almost 30% of companies are in a zone of high debt burden and liquidity deficit.
Debt under state contracts is also accumulating: a significant portion of the largest customers have not ensured timely payment for already concluded agreements, so contractors have to cover cash gaps with bank loans.
Among other symptoms is a sharp increase in accounts receivable. During 2026, it increased by 147.2%: from 2.60 billion US dollars (202.5 billion Russian rubles) in January to 6.42 billion US dollars (500.7 billion Russian rubles) in June
Companies are responding to the lack of working capital by cutting costs and personnel, primarily the wage fund. Additional pressure is created by expensive credit: the high key rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (14.25%) significantly increases the cost of borrowed financing.
Under such circumstances, part of the long-term state contracts becomes economically unprofitable; companies perform work according to old estimates but finance them with new, significantly more expensive loans.
The crisis in infrastructure construction demonstrates a side effect of the reorientation of the Russian economy towards military needs. Even formally priority civilian sectors face a shortage of funds and payment delays, and the authorities are essentially shifting the budget burden onto companies and the banking sector, the intelligence service notes.