Deficit of current account of Ukraine's balance of payments down to $164 mln in Nov 2016

The deficit of the current account of Ukraine's balance of payments in November 2016 continued to decline for the second month in a row and totaled $165 million, which is 1.9 times better than in November 2015, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

"The main factor that caused the reduction of deficit was a significant increase in exports of goods (in monetary terms by $343 million), which exceeded the growth in imports of goods (by $281 million)," the central bank said.

According to the NBU, exports of goods increased by 11.3%, to $3.367 billion, while imports by 7.6%, to $3.958 billion.

In November, in particular, exports of oil and oilseeds reached $700 million, which accounted for 21% of total exports of goods and exceeded last year's level by 36%. In addition, exports of services grew, which is uncharacteristic for November, due to the increased volume of gas transit to Europe. Imports rose mainly due to the growth in imports of petroleum products, while imports of machinery grew as well.

The NBU said in November net revenues on the financial account amounted to $84 million ($311 million in October).

The central bank said that in November the trend of the previous months that the pace of reduction of off-bank cash currency slowed. In addition, net outflow of debt capital from the real economic sector was seen mainly thanks to payment of commercial loans by companies ($344 million).

Payment of government domestic loan bonds pegged to foreign currency held by nonresidents resulted in a decline in liabilities of the public sector by $110 million, the NBU said.

The regulator said that in November foreign direct investment (FDI) of $132 million was equally distributed between the real economic and banking sectors. FDI in the pecuniary form and in the form of transactions to transfer debt to charter capital were seen in the banking sector.

In general, the balance of payment in November posted a deficit of $80 million, while in October a surplus of $91 million was recorded.

The NBU said that in January-November 2016 the deficit of the current account was $3.1 billion.

"However the deficit of the current account was compensated by net borrowing in the financial accounts in the amount of around $4 billion," the NBU said.

The surplus of the consolidated balance of payment in January-November was some $987 million.