The National Bank of Ukraine (the National Bank) publishes Ukraine’s balance of payments (BoP) in accordance with Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine On the National Bank of Ukraine. The following explanation of the reasons for discrepancies in foreign trade indicators according to data by the National Bank and the State Statistical Service of Ukraine (the SSSU) is intended to provide clear and transparent information to market participants regarding BoP indicators.

The discrepancies between the National Bank’s and SSSU’s foreign trade data stem primarily from the different degree of statistical coverage of foreign trade operations. In addition, the discrepancies were caused by the fact that the ‘Goods’ and ‘Services’ items of the balance of payments and the corresponding indicators of the foreign trade balance are based on different methodological foundations which, nevertheless, are compliant with the applicable international standards. In particular, the balance of payments is compiled according to the IMF methodology, whereas the foreign trade balance is based on the United Nations Statistical Commission’s methodology. Discrepancies in statistical data can be found not only in Ukraine but in other countries as well, for instance, in Turkey, Kazakhstan and Poland.

The main reasons for discrepancies in the National Bank’s and SSSU’s calculations include:

• the National Bank additionally calculates ‘informal’ import on the basis of macroindicators;
• when calculating the ‘Travel’ item the National Bank adds travelers’ expenses;
• recalculation of import from CIF prices (Cost, Insurance, Freight – cost on exporter’s border. Cargo transportation and insurance costs are added to FOB price) to FOB prices (Free on Board – cost on importer’s border at port).

For instance, the National Bank’s 2014 data regarding service imports was more than twice as large as the corresponding data by the SSSU. The reason for that is that the National Bank includes not only business but also private travel expenses to the ‘Travel’ item of the service import parameter.