By KYIV. Dec 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The surplus of the consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in October 2022 amounted to $47 million, while the deficit in October last year was $1.1 billion, 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 8.7 times more than the deficit of $80 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.
