Page 26 - UKRRptMar20

November). Mineral product imports slid 17.2% y/y (from a 26.5% y/y plunge in November).
The 2019 financial account surplus amounted to $7.0bn (vs. $7.2bn in 2018). In particular, the FDI inflow amounted to $2.5bn (vs. $2.4bn in 2018). In addition, the net inflow from trade credits amounted to $4.0bn (vs. $1.2bn in 2018). The net inflow from Eurobonds in the non-banking sector amounted to $2.1bn.
The financial account surplus enlarged to $895mn in December (from $574mn in November). Due to the surplus of the current account and the inflow under the financial account, the balance of payments surplus in December jumped to $3.3bn from $0.6bn in November.
In 2019, the balance of payments surplus amounted to $6.0bn (vs. a surplus of $2.9bn in 2018).
Remittances from Ukrainians working outside the country grew 12% y/y last year, to $12.9bn,​ reports the National Bank of Ukraine. This volume of money offset Ukraine’s $12.1bn 2019 trade deficit. In the last week, the central bank registered two new money transfer systems: Pay Place Ukraine and NovaPay, a unit of Nova Poshta. There are now 31 registered payment systems in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s 2019 goods trade deficit reached $10.7bn, or a 8.8% y/y surge​, the State Statistics Service stated in its preliminary report on February 14. Goods imports reached $60.8bn, advancing 6.3% y/y, while exports amounted to $50.1bn, growing 5.8% y/y.
Both exports and imports grew by about $3bn in 2019, although the import partners became more diversified. The structure of exports remained largely the same, but the EU increased its share of Ukraine’s partners to 41.5% of total trade turnover, whereas the EU accounts for 45% of Russian exports (largely oil).
The goods trade deficit enlarged moderately in 2019.​ Imports grew slower than expected mostly due to a decline in imports of energy products. At the same time, a surge in imports of road vehicles was largely due to a mass registration of automobiles with E.U. license plates. Many were massively imported starting 2014 but not registered by Ukrainians, who exploited loopholes in legislation to avoid taxes and fees.
The major contributors to import growth were road vehicles (35.3% y/y) and machinery (11.3% y/y).​ Meanwhile, imports of energy materials dropped 9.2% y/y. Export growth was driven by grains (33.1% y/y) and mineral products (12.2% y/y). At the same time, exports of ferrous metals fell 12.1% y/y and machinery exports declined 4.1% y/y.
Imports from the EU grew 7.7% y/y in 2019​, outpacing EU export growth of 3.0% y/y. The share of the EU in Ukraine’s imports and exports amounted to 41.1% and 41.5%, respectively.
A record-high grain crop starting from 2H18 ensured strong export growth,​ which helped to compensate the drop in exports of metals caused by unfavorable prices at the global markets.
26​ UKRAINE Country Report​ March 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com