Russia Services PMI Rises to 4-Month High

The S&P Global Russia Services PMI rose to a four-month high of 50.0 in August 2025, up from July’s 13-month low of 48.6, signaling no change in overall activity levels following two consecutive months of contraction. While some companies continued to report subdued demand conditions, there were indications that a slower decline in new business contributed to a stabilization in output. New orders fell for the second consecutive month, albeit only slightly, as firms cited challenging financial conditions and customer hesitancy. Employment increased modestly, marking the fastest pace of job creation since February. Meanwhile, backlogs of work were broadly unchanged. On the price front, input cost inflation eased to its lowest level since May 2020. However, output cost inflation accelerated to a seven-month high, as firms sought to pass higher costs on to customers. Finally, business sentiment weakened, falling to the second-lowest level since July 2023.