The S&P Global Russia Services PMI held at 51.3 in September 2026, unchanged from August’s six‑month high and signaling a second straight month of expansion. Business activity grew, driven by a quicker increase in new orders and the impact of successful marketing campaigns, although the overall pace of expansion remained below the series average.
Employment declined for the eighth month in a row, as firms chose not to replace staff who left voluntarily. That said, the rate of job shedding was the slowest in four months. At the same time, backlogs of work continued to shrink, pointing to broadly stable levels of outstanding business.
On the price side, input cost inflation eased to its lowest rate so far in 2026 and fell below the historical trend. Firms continued to raise selling prices to pass higher costs on to customers, but the pace of output price inflation slowed to a three‑month low.
Looking ahead, business confidence edged lower compared with August and moved further below its long‑run average.
