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The consolidated balance of payments of Ukraine in May 2020 had a deficit of $353 million, which is 52.4% less than in May 2019 ($749 million), according to preliminary data reported by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Monday.
According to them, the current account surplus of the balance of payments last month amounted to $1.4 billion, while in May last year, the deficit was $136 million.
The volume of exports of goods in May 2020 significantly fell – by 24.7% (in April 2020 by 3.8%), to $3.1 billion.
The decrease was due to a reduction in the main groups of goods, in particular, exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals decreased 32.1% (in April 18.1%), engineering products – 17.5% (8.1%), wood and products made of it – 25.5% (15.6%), chemical products – 18.4% (2.5%), industrial products – 20.7% (24.2%), and food products – 13.4% (increased 6.6%) and mineral products – 3 .2% (increased 12.1%).
In January-May 2020, exports to Asian countries increased in nominal terms (by $799 million, or 13.2%), while exports to the EU, Africa and the Russian Federation decreased by $1.1 billion (15.2%), $227 million (10.1%) and $195 million (18.3%), respectively. Thus, the share of exports to Asian countries of total exports increased to 38.1% (from 31.6% for the same period in 2019), and to the countries of the EU, Africa and Russia it decreased to 33.9% (from 37 5%), 11.2% (from 11.7%) and 4.8% (from 5.5%) respectively.
In May 2020, import of goods continued to decline more significantly than export – by 35.5% (in April 29.8%), to $3.3 billion. Including energy imports decreased 52.4% (37.5%) and non-energy – 28.6% (the same in April).
Last month, in particular, imports of engineering products decreased 25.4% (in April 28.6%), including cars 14.5% (33.4%), as well as chemical products industry – 33.3% (17.9%) and industrial products – 25.2% (23.2%).
In addition, imports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals decreased 34% (in April 36.8%), wood and wood products – 31.3% (26.9%) and food products – 1.1% (it grew by 2.1%).
According to the results of January-May 2020, imports from Russia (fell by $1.2 billion, or 41.2%) and from the EU countries (by $1 billion, or 11.4%) fell the most in nominal terms, with the share of Russia of total imports decreased 9.2% (from 13% according to the results of the corresponding period of 2019), while the EU's share increased to 40.6% (from 38.2%).
At the same time, imports from Asian countries also fell slightly – by $197 million (or 3.6%), and their share of total imports increased to 26.9% from 23.3%.
According to the report, the surplus of trade in services in May 2020 increased 4.2 times, to $495 million compared with May 2019, due to the higher rate of decline in imports of services (56.5%) compared with their exports (27.1%)
The decrease in imports of services occurred along with a 75% reduction in expenses of people traveling abroad and short-term migrants, as well as a decrease in transport (by 44.5%) and other business services (by 56.5%).
At the same time, a decrease in transport services (by 37.5%) and expenses of people traveling around Ukraine (by 96.4%) contributed to a decrease in the export of services, while the export of computer services continued to grow (by 6.5%).
According to the central bank, the surplus of the primary income balance in May 2020 increased 2.1 times, to $728 million compared to May a year earlier due to the a surplus for direct investment income ($239 million) thanks to negative reinvested income, whereas in May 2019 the deficit was $561 million. At the same time, revenues from remuneration of labor decreased 28.6%.
Net borrowing from the outside world (total current account balance and capital account) last month amounted to $1.4 billion, which is 10.7 times more than in May 2019.
The net capital outflow from the financial account in May 2020 (net borrowing) amounted to $1.7 billion, which is 2.7 times more than in May last year. The dynamics of the indicator was mainly determined by public sector operations.
Last month, net outflow from public sector operations amounted to $1.3 billion (a year earlier it was $0.8 billion), which was formed due to the repayment of bonds of the external public sector in 2015 ($1 billion) and net sale of government bonds by nonresidents ($0.3 billion).
Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua
