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KYIV. Dec 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The surplus of the consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in October 2022 amounted to $47 million, which is 23.4 times less than the deficit of $1.1 billion in October last year, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on its website.
According to the NBU, the deficit of the current account of the balance of payments in October 2022 amounted to $693 million, which is 9.9 times more than the deficit of $70 million in October 2021.
The NBU also reported that exports and imports of goods for the year dropped by 38.7% and 22.7%, respectively, while over the month their exports fell by 7.8%, while imports grew by 5%.
The main factor behind the decline in exports to $3.6 billion was the decline in exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals by 77.2%. There was also a decrease in exports of food products by 18.5%, chemical industry products by 50%, wood and wood products by 20.3%, mineral products (including ores) by 46.2% and engineering products by 44.4%.
The volume of imports of goods for the specified period dropped to $5 billion, including non-energy imports fell by 18.5%. In particular, imports of industrial products fell by 15.9%, engineering products by 31.4%, food products by 15.9%, ferrous and non-ferrous metals by 37.3%, chemical industry products by 32.1%, and wood and products from it by 22.2%.
At the same time, energy imports decreased by 37.1%.
According to the National Bank, in October 2022 there was a $1.2 billion deficit of trade in services compared to a $366 million surplus in October 2021. The NBU explained this by the growth of refugees abroad, whose expenses increased by 3.5 times, to $ 2 billion. At the same time, exports of services fell by 27.1%, while imports increased 1.8 times.
The surplus in the balance of primary income in October 2022 amounted to $972 million versus a deficit of $196 million in October 2021. Receipts under the item "compensation" grew by 10.8%, while payments on income from investments fell by 78%.
Net lending to the outside world (the total balance of the current account and capital account) in October this year amounted to $691 billion versus $68 million in October last year.
Net inflow on the financial account amounted to $761 million (in October a year earlier – $1.1 billion), which was due to the outflow of funds from private sector operations.
Net inflow from public sector operations amounted to $2.7 billion (in October 2021 – an outflow of $474 million).
The NBU estimated the net inflow of foreign direct investment at $111 million, while in October of the previous year this figure was $537 million.
According to the regulator, the net increase in the external position of the country’s banking system in operations with portfolio and other investments amounted to $1.1 billion. It was due to an increase in the external position in the "currency and deposits" item by $1 billion.
The external position of the real sector (excluding foreign direct investment) grew by $1.3 billion in the reporting month due to an increase in the net external position on trade loans by $585 million, an increase in debt on loans and borrowings by $262 million, and an increase in cash outside banks by $988 million.
As of October 1, 2022, the volume of international reserves totaled $25.2 billion, which covers 3.2 months of Current External Payments (CXP).
As reported, the consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in 2021 had a surplus of $487 million, which is 75% less than in 2020. The current account deficit of the balance of payments was $2.1 billion, while in 2020 there was a surplus of $5.3 billion.
