Balance of payments in May has a record deficit of USD 3.4 billion since beginning of russia’s invasion

The deficit of the current account of the balance of payments amounted to USD 1.6 billion (in May 2023 – USD 167 million).

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

The formation of the deficit was due to the expansion of the negative balance of trade in goods due to higher volumes of their imports and the absence of grant assistance from international partners.

Excluding reinvested income and grants from international partners, the current account deficit amounted to USD 1.6 billion (in May 2023 – USD 1.1 billion).

For five months of 2024, the current account deficit amounted to USD 6.4 billion (for five months of 2023 – USD 1.7 billion).

Excluding reinvested income and grants from international partners, the deficit amounted to USD 5.9 billion (for five months of 2023 – USD 6.1 billion).

The export of goods increased by 11.6% (in April 2024, it increased by 15.6%), and their imports - by 12.8% (in April 2024, it increased by 24.0%).

Both the exports of goods and their imports decreased compared to the previous month by 1.7% and 3.3%, respectively.

The volume of exports of goods amounted to USD 3.3 billion.

Exports increased primarily due to food products (by 24.9% month over month decreased by 3.4%), namely cereals (by 34.3%), oils and fats (by 38.9%), and products food industry (by 14.2%).

At the same time, the export of oilseeds decreased by 24.5%.

In May 2024, in nominal terms, the export of goods increased in almost all regions of the world, the largest of which was to Asian countries (by USD 219 million, or by 31.7%, the share increased from 23.2% to 27.4%).

Exports to America also increased (by USD 60 million, or 2.2 times, the share increased from 1.7% to 3.3%), Africa (by USD 59 million, or by 28.3%, the share increased from 7.0% to 8.1%) and the CIS countries (by USD 14 million, or by 10.5%, the share decreased by 0.1 pp to 4.4%).

At the same time, exports to EU countries decreased by USD 114 million, or 6.2%; the share decreased from 61.5% to 51.7%.

The volume of import of goods amounted to USD 5.5 billion.

Energy imports increased by 18.7% (by April, it increased by 12.3%), mainly due to the increase in imports of petroleum products and electricity.

At the same time, non-energy - increased by 11.9% (down to April, it decreased by 5.4%).

The balance of payments in May was reduced to a record deficit since the beginning of the war in the amount of USD 3.4 billion (in May 2023, the surplus was USD 1.5 billion).

As of June 1, 2024, the volume of international reserves amounted to USD 39.0 billion, which provides financing for imports for the future period of 5.1 months.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the deficit of the current account of the balance of payments in 2023 amounted to 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).

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