Top businesses face debt crisis

Hello! Welcome to your weekly guide to the Russian economy, written by Denis Kasyanchuk and Alexander Kolyandr and brought to you by The Bell. This week we dig into Russia’s corporate debt crisis, highlighting the 13 businesses with massive debt piles that have the central bank worried. 

War, sanctions and rates hit Russia’s problem borrowers hard

After a full year with interest rates of around 20%, Russian business has suffered a serious blow. Hundreds of companies are close to bankruptcy and the government is planning to introduce creditor protection schemes for entire industries that are particularly heavily indebted. The central bank has said there are 13 particularly problematic firms among the country’s largest, some of which could face bankruptcy. We identify who they are, how serious the problem is and why the war, sanctions and the nationalization of the economy have brought them to the brink.