Russian bank customers have withdrawn the equivalent of roughly 24 billion euros since the start of the year, with 286.4 billion roubles pulled out in the first two weeks of August alone, according to central bank data. The withdrawals follow a pattern of accelerating outflows through the summer, as June and July combined saw 11 billion euros removed.
The pressure on public finances is mounting. Yields on 10-year Russian government bonds have climbed to 17 percent, and the finance ministry was forced to cancel a planned bond auction in July. The budget deficit from January through July reached approximately 65 billion euros, far exceeding the government's full-year target of 38 billion euros.
Economic growth has stalled, with first-half GDP expanding just 0.3 percent, while drone strikes have knocked out over 30 percent of Russia's oil refining capacity. VEB, the state development corporation, dismissed its chief economist Andrei Klepach amid the turmoil.