The surplus of Ukraine's consolidated balance of payments in September 2019 was $60 million, while in September 2018 its deficit was $582 million, according to preliminary data from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

According to the NBU, in general for the nine months of this year, the consolidated balance of payments saw a surplus of $2.214 billion compared with a deficit of $418 million for the nine months of 2018.

The deficit of the current account of the balance of payments in September 2019 decreased to $1.1 billion (7.4% of GDP) compared to $1.4 billion (11.8% of GDP) in September last year.

In January-September 2019, the current account deficit amounted to $2.7 billion (2.5% of GDP) against $3.4 billion (3.7% of GDP) for the same period last year.

Exports of goods in September this year grew at a faster pace than imports, by 11.9% and 2% respectively (in August 2019 exports of goods increased by 6.3%, while imports by 7.6%).

Exports of goods in September amounted to $3.7 billion. The main growth factor was the increase in exports of food (including cereals) by 29.4% (in August by 19.8%), engineering products by 31.4% (in August by 3%), mineral products (including ore) by 15.2% (in August by 38%).

According to the NBU, exports of chemical products and industrial goods remained at almost the same level as last year, while exports decreased: ferrous and non-ferrous metals by 16% (in August by 16%), timber and wood products by 10.8% (in August by 21.1%).

In January-September-2019, export volumes to the EU countries grew the most in nominal terms: by $1.2 billion, or by 9.9%. The share of EU countries of total exports grew to 37.7% (in January-September 2018, it amounted to 37.1%). Exports to Asia and Africa grew by $910 million (9.1%) and $723 million (23.9%), respectively. The share of Asian countries of total exports increased to 31.9% (for the same period in 2018 – 31.7%), the share of African countries increased to 11% (in January-September 2018 – 9.6%). Exports to Russia fell by $280 million (12.3%), and its share of total exports decreased to 5.8% from 7.2% in January-September 2018.

The volume of imports of goods in September amounted to $5.1 billion. The volume of energy imports decreased 18.6% (in August – 4.3%). Non-energy import volumes increased 9.8% (in August – 11.3%), mainly due to an increase in imports of: engineering products - by 16.2% (in August – by 24.7%); food products – by 19.2% (in August – by 5.1%), industrial products – by 25.4% (in August – by 17.1%), chemical products – by 5% (in August – by 5.2%), ferrous and non-ferrous metals – by 7.3% (in August it decreased by 7.6%).

In January-September 2019, the largest growth in nominal terms was seen in imports from Asia ($2 billion, or 22.4%) and the EU ($1.8 billion, or 11.9%). The share of imports from Asian countries of total imports increased from 21.6% to 24.4%, the share of imports from the EU – from 37% to 38.2%. The volume of imports from Russia decreased by $513 million, or by 8.9%, and its share of total imports decreased from 14.3% to 12%.

According to the central bank, the primary income balance in September was negative due to the planned interest payments on government bonds and remained at the level of the same period last year ($102 million). A 14.6% increase in investment income payments was offset by an increase in payments from salaries by 13.9%.

Net borrowing from the outside world (total current account balance and capital account) in September amounted to $1.1 billion (in September 2018 – $1.4 billion).

In January-September 2019, net borrowing from the outside world amounted to $2.7 billion, while for the corresponding period last year – $3.4 billion.

The net inflow of funds in the financial account in September amounted to $1.2 billion and was determined by private sector operations (last September, the inflow of funds in the financial account amounted to $810 million).

In January-September 2019, the net inflow of funds in the financial account amounted to $4.9 billion, and for the same period last year – $3 billion.

The net inflow of foreign direct investment in September amounted to $255 million (in September 2018 – $104 million), 73% of which were injected to the real sector.

In January-September this year, the net inflow of foreign direct investment amounted to $1.8 billion (of which the debt re-registration operations in the charter capital amounted to 7%), and for the same period last year amounted to $1.5 billion (the debt re-registration operations in the charter capital amounted to 27%).

A net decrease in the external position of the banking system in operations with portfolio and other investments amounted to $293 million and was due to a decrease in the net foreign position in the currency and deposits item by $236 million, as well as payments on eurobonds in the amount of $35 million.