By KYIV. Jan 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The surplus of the consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in November 2022 amounted to $2.4 billion, while the deficit of $377 million in November last year was recorded.
As reported on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the current account surplus in the balance of payments in November 2022 amounted to $227 million, while in November 2021 the deficit was $1 billion.
The NBU also reported that exports and imports of goods for the year dropped by 43% and 27.7%, respectively, while over the month their exports fell by 0.5%, while imports grew by 12.6%.
The main factor behind the decline in exports to $3.6 billion was the decline in exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals – by 75.4%. There was also a decrease in the export of food products – by 26.2%, chemical industry products – by 56.3%, wood and wood products – by 28.7%, mineral products (including ores) – by 69% and engineering products – by 56.9%.
The volume of imports of goods for the specified period decreased to $5.4 billion, including non-energy imports decreased by 23.7%. In particular, imports of industrial products fell by 31.3%, engineering products by 35.8%, food products by 31.3%, ferrous and non-ferrous metals by 47.4%, chemical products by 46.2%, wood and products from it by 47.7%.
At the same time, energy imports plummeted by 40.3%.
According to the National Bank, in November 2022 there was a $1.1 billion deficit in trade in services compared to a $500 million surplus in November 2021. At the same time, exports of services fell by 24.5%, while imports increased 1.9 times. The NBU explained this by the growth of refugees, whose expenses increased by 3.9 times, to $2 billion.
The surplus in the balance of primary income in November 2022 amounted to $735 million versus a deficit of $654 million in November 2021. Receipts under the item "remuneration" fell by 1.2% and payments on income from investments by 74.3%.
Net lending to the outside world (the total balance of the current account and capital account) in November this year amounted to $228 billion against $1 billion in November last year.
Net inflow on the financial account amounted to $2.2 billion (in November a year earlier it was $1.4 billion), which was due to the inflow of funds from public sector operations.
Net inflow from public sector operations amounted to $2.5 billion (in November 2021 it was an outflow of $1.4 billion).
The NBU estimated the net inflow of foreign direct investment at $143 million, while in November of the previous year this figure was $603 million.
According to the regulator, the net decrease in the external position of the country’s banking system in operations with portfolio and other investments amounted to $415 million. It was due to a decrease in the external position in the "currency and deposits" item by $567 million and net purchases of nonresident securities by banks by $168 million.
The external position of the real sector (excluding foreign direct investment) for the reporting month increased by $825 million due to an increase in the net external position on trade loans by $222 million, as well as an increase in cash outside banks by $730 million.
As of November 1, 2022, the volume of international reserves amounted to $28 billion, which covers 3.5 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 amounted to $2.1 billion, while in 2020 there was a surplus of this indicator of $5.3 billion.
