As of the end of September 2025, overdue wage arrears in the Russian Federation reached 1.95 billion rubles. This is an 18.6% increase compared to the previous month, and compared to September 2024, the volume of unpaid wages has quadrupled.
This is reported by Finway
Industries with the Largest Debts and Main Reasons
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service, the largest share of debts consists of unpaid wages that arose specifically in 2025 — about 75%. Another 20% pertains to debts from 2024. The most significant debts have accumulated in the construction industry (44%), mining (17.5%), and manufacturing (11.6%). The main reason for delays in wage payments is cited as the lack of own funds in enterprises.
“About 75% of unpaid wages are related to debts that arose specifically in 2025, while another 20% pertains to 2024. The main reason remains the lack of own funds in enterprises,” the report states.
Declining Profits and Increasing Tax Pressure
Liquidity issues are also affecting the tax discipline of businesses. In the first half of 2025, the Federal Tax Service of Russia filed lawsuits for the collection of taxes and fees amounting to 15 billion rubles — seven times more than in the same period last year. More and more companies are avoiding voluntary payment of tax debts, forcing tax authorities to resort to enforced collection.
The deterioration of business solvency is linked to the economic downturn, high credit costs, and increased sanctions pressure. According to data from January to July 2025, the net profit of enterprises decreased by 8%, or about 1.5 trillion rubles in monetary terms. One in four enterprises reports a sharp increase in non-payments from their counterparties.
Against this backdrop, the Russian government continues to raise taxes in an attempt to plug budget holes due to declining business revenues. However, such measures only exacerbate the problems: the tax base is shrinking, companies are closing en masse or going underground, and authorities are forced to raise taxes again to compensate for losses.
In addition, Russia plans to provide loans to other countries amounting to 1.8 trillion rubles (over 18 billion USD), despite the fact that unpaid wages and business debts are only increasing domestically, and the economy is experiencing a severe shortage of financial resources.