UAE banks increased payment terms with Russia by 30%

The situation has been worsening throughout the year, but has gotten noticeably worse since the end of November, said Svetlana Derevenko, managing partner at Popravko, Derevenko and Partners. In some cases, the money may be returned after one or two weeks or may not reach accounts in Russian or Arab banks at all.

In addition, many companies cannot make payments directly, although in 2023 it was still possible to carry out such operations, noted Vadim Filatov, deputy director of the PEK transport company. As a result, companies are forced to spend additional money on the services of intermediaries, which increased logistics costs by 2024 by 10 to 15% in real terms, the premium per container can reach $225, he noted.

Information about the increase in payment terms is confirmed by Ivan Tikhonenok, director of the Amond&Smith banking group. “In a number of business areas payments were simply suspended: electronics, servers, IT services, industrial equipment,” he added. According to Tikhonenok, the situation with payments has been deteriorating since the beginning of 2024, the sanctions did not affect it.

Most of the experts interviewed by RBC stated that the timing and possibility of making a transfer depends on both the categories of goods and the specific bank in the UAE.

On November 21, the United States imposed sanctions against Gazprombank, Dom.RF, BKS Bank and several other organizations. Previously, transport companies and lawyers working with Kazakh partners reported a slowdown in payments. In November, the average time for making payments between Russia and Kazakhstan increased by 24%.