Deficit of current account of balance of payments amounts to USD 111 million in February

The deficit of the current account of the balance of payments in February amounted to USD 111 million (in February 2023, USD 671 million).

This follows from a statement by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the Ukrainian News agency reports.

The deficit decreased primarily as a result of a decrease in the negative balance of trade in goods and services - both due to a decrease in the import of goods and a decrease in the expenses of Ukrainian citizens who are abroad.

At the same time, the surplus of secondary income narrowed due to lower volumes of grants received from international partners.

Excluding reinvested income and grants from international partners, the deficit was USD 0.8 billion (in February 2023, the deficit was USD 1.7 billion).

In two months of 2024, the current account deficit amounted to USD 0.6 billion (in January-February 2023 – USD 1.8 billion).

Excluding reinvested income and grants from international partners, the deficit amounted to USD 1.3 billion (in two months of 2023 – USD 3.5 billion).

Exports of goods increased by 5.3% (in January 2024 – by 13.1%), and imports decreased by 6.8% (in January 2024 – by 1.7%).

Compared to the previous month, the exports of goods decreased by 1.1%, and their imports decreased by 4.9%.

The volume of imports of goods amounted to USD 4.8 billion.

Energy imports decreased by 41.3% (up to January, increased by 20.5%), while non-energy imports increased by 3.6% (up to January, decreased by 8.2%).

The balance of payments in February amounted to a deficit of USD 1.3 billion (in February 2023 – USD 0.7 billion).

Payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amounted to USD 131 million.

As of February 1, 2024, the volume of international reserves amounted to USD 37.1 billion, which provides financing of imports for the future period of 4.9 months.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the current account deficit of the balance of payments in 2023 was USD 9.8 billion (5.5% of GDP), compared to a surplus of USD 8.0 billion (5.0% of GDP) in 2022.

In 2023, the consolidated balance of payments was formed with a surplus of USD 9.5 billion (in 2022, the deficit was USD 2.9 billion).

The balance of payments current account surplus was USD 8.6 billion (5.8% of GDP) in 2022, compared with a deficit of USD 3.9 billion (1.9% of GDP) in 2021.

In general, for 2022, the consolidated balance of payments was formed with a deficit of USD 2.9 billion (in 2021, the surplus was USD 487 million).