{"id":582688,"date":"2026-04-15T20:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/2026\/04\/582688\/four-day-workweek-and-minus-trillions-russia-s-economy-is-cracking\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T20:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T17:30:21","slug":"four-day-workweek-and-minus-trillions-russia-s-economy-is-cracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/korabelov.info\/en\/2026\/04\/582688\/four-day-workweek-and-minus-trillions-russia-s-economy-is-cracking\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-day workweek and minus trillions: Russia's economy is cracking"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Russian Federation<\/strong>, alarming signals continue to accumulate across various sectors of the economy. This is most evident in industry: large enterprises are being forced to cut production, and in some places \u2014 even change their operating mode due to falling demand.<\/p>\n

Thus, auto giant KAMAZ<\/strong> announced a possible switch to a four-day workweek from June 2026<\/strong>. The reason is a sharp drop in heavy truck sales of about 40%<\/strong> year on year. At the same time, the company is forced to revise its production programme and reduce the volume of equipment output.<\/p>\n

The situation is no better in railway engineering. According to Russian media estimates, freight car production in 2026<\/strong> may fall to 37\u201345 thousand units<\/strong>, whereas in 2025<\/strong> this figure was almost 53 thousand<\/strong>. This actually amounts to a possible decline of up to 45%<\/strong>. Moreover, according to Rosstat<\/strong>, car production had already collapsed by almost half at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

The problems have also affected the oil sector, which has traditionally been a pillar of the Russian economy. For 2025<\/strong>, “Surgutneftegaz”<\/strong> reported a net loss of 251 billion rubles<\/strong>, whereas a year earlier it showed substantial profit. Another key company \u2014 “Rosneft”<\/strong> \u2014 remained profitable (about 293 billion rubles<\/strong>), but its financial result fell by approximately 73%<\/strong> compared with 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, the situation with public finances is rapidly deteriorating. The federal budget deficit of the Russian Federation<\/strong> for the first three months of 2026<\/strong> reached 4.6 trillion rubles<\/strong>, which already exceeds the planned annual figure (3.8 trillion rubles<\/strong>). For comparison: over the same period in 2025<\/strong> the deficit was half as large \u2014 1.9 trillion rubles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The government is trying to curb the economic decline through massive injections. In particular, spending on preferential loans in 2025<\/strong> exceeded the plan by more than 1 trillion rubles<\/strong>. Spending on housing and communal services also rose sharply \u2014 to 2.5 trillion rubles<\/strong>, which is one and a half times higher than a year earlier. This indicates growing pressure on the budget due to worn-out infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Overall, according to official statistics, industry in the Russian Federation<\/strong> was already teetering on the brink of decline: the production index at the start of 2026<\/strong> fell below 100%<\/strong>, which effectively means stagnation.<\/p>\n

The combination of these factors \u2014 falling production, a downturn in profits in key sectors and a sharp rise in the budget deficit \u2014 points to systemic problems in the country’s economy, which is under sanctions pressure and forced to spend significant resources on the war.<\/p>\n