Ukraine posts $299 mln deficit in consolidated balance of payments in July 2022
MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax) - - The deficit of Ukraine's balance of payments stood at $299 million in July 2022 compared with the surplus of 484 million hryvni in July 2021, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on its website.
The current account surplus amounted to $1.3 billion in July 2022 versus the deficit of $583 million a year earlier, the NBU said.
According to Ukrainian media, the NBU also revealed that exports and imports of goods respectively shrank by 47.4% and 20.3% year-on-year and by 7.7% and 0.7% month-to-month.
The main factor behind the decline in exports to $2.7 billion was a 75.9% decrease of ferrous and non-ferrous metals exports. Food exports fell 14.3%, exports of chemical industry products decreased by 53.7%, wood and wood products exports stepped down 26.7%, mineral products exports (including ores)declined by 65.2% and exports of engineering products fell by 45.2%.
In the reported period, imports of goods decreased to $4.8 billion. Non-energy imports fell by 25.2%. In particular, imports of industrial goods fell by 25.9%, engineering products by 41.5%, food products by 25.9%, ferrous and non-ferrous metals by 36.7%, chemical products by 27%, wood and wood products by 35.8%, the NBU said.
Meanwhile, energy imports slipped by 0.6%, it said.
The NBU posted a services trade deficit of $1.2 billion for July 2022, compared to a $257 million surplus in July 2021. Exports of services were down by 23.5%, and imports by 44.7% in July 2022.
Ukraine saw a primary income balance surplus of $1 billion in July 2022 against a $500 million deficit in July 2021. Proceeds in compensations and benefits rose by 13%, and payments on investment income shrank by 79.3%, according to NBU data.
Net external lending (total balance of the current account and capital account) was at $1.3 billion in July 2022 against $581 million in July of the previous year.
Net outflow in the financial account stood at $1.6 billion, compared to $1.1 billion in 2021, which was attributed to outflows from private sector operations.
Net outflows from public sector operations were at $210 million vs $376 million in July 2021.
The NBU estimated net inflows from direct foreign investments at $222 million against $811 million in July 2021.
According to the NBU, the net growth of the Ukrainian banking system's external position from operations with portfolio and other investments was at $393 million. As the main drivers of this growth, the regulator sees the $319 million growth in the external position on foreign exchange and deposits, the $35 million growth of the external position on loans, $26 million in Eurobond payments and $13 million in net purchases by lenders of securities issued by non-residents.
The external position in real economy (excluding foreign direct investment) was up by $1.6 billion in July 2022, supported by net external trade credit debt increasing by $765 million and cash volumes outside banks growing by $985 million.
As of August 1, 2022, international reserves amounted to $22.4 billion, sufficient for financing imports during 3.2 months.
As reported earlier, Ukraine's consolidated balance of payments saw a deficit of $487 million in 2021, down 75% from 2020. Balance of payments current account deficit totaled $2.1 billion in 2021 after a $5.3 billion surplus in 2020.