You're reading: Surplus of Ukraine’s balance of payments rises

The placement by the Ukrainian government of eurobonds worth $2 billion in Sept. 2010 has ensured a surplus of Ukraine’s consolidated balance of payments in September of $1.241 billion, while Ukraine saw a $30 million surplus in Aug. 2010, the National Bank of Ukraine said in a posting on its website.

The surplus of the balance of payments in Jan. through Sept. 2010 was estimated at $6.441 billion, whereas over the first nine months of 2009 Ukraine saw a deficit in its balance estimated at $12.173 billion, including $1.345 billion early in September.

The NBU said that the surplus of the financial account in September 2010 rose to $1.5 billion, up from $596 million in Aug. 2010. In Sept. 2009, Ukraine saw a deficit of $1.638 billion.

The surplus of the financial account Jan. through Sept. achieved $7.267 billion, whereas in the first nine months of 2009 there was a deficit of the financial account estimated at $11.317 billion.

"The surplus of the capital and financial accounts in September was estimated at $1.5 billion, and was secured mainly by the placement by the government of eurobonds worth $2 billion and the active acquisition by nonresidents of government domestic loan bonds to the tune of $400 million," reads the statement.

The NBU says that the arrival of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sept. 2010 fell to $567 million, down from $654 million in August 2010. However, FDI from January through September 2010 was somewhat higher than the indicator registered in the same period of 2009: FDI grew to $3.64 billion from $3.372 billion.

The NBU noted growth in foreign currency outflows into off-bank in-cash circulation: such assets in Sept. 2010 grew to $1.578 billion ($903 million in September 2009) from $522 million in the previous month of the current year.

The deficit of the current account in Sept. 2010 alone shrank to $259 million (there was a $293 million surplus in September 2009) from $566 million in August. The deficit of the current account from January through September 2010 hit $826 million (there was a deficit of $856 million in the same period last year).

"The worsening of the current account over the past months took place mainly because of the growth of imported goods as a result of the restoration of domestic consumer and investment demand," reads the statement.

"Thus, the difference between the pace of the growth in the corresponding month of the previous year for the import and export of goods increased to 17.2 percentage points in September (42.4% and 25.2% respectively)."