In April 2017, the current account recorded a deficit of USD 146 million, while in April last year the balance was positive at USD 164 million.  In April 2017, the current account deficit was driven by a widening goods and services trade deficit and payment of dividends   – from June 2016 the NBU allowed the payment of dividends for 2014 - 2015 and from April  2017 – for 2016. Overall, in the first four months of 2017, the current account deficit amounted to  USD 1.3 billion, remaining at the previous year’s level.

In annual terms, exports slowed markedly to 7.5% in April 2017 versus 38.2% in March. The slowdown in exports was primary driven by a 7.1% percent yoy drop  in metallurgical exports versus  a rise of 36.8% yoy in  March, reflecting  a deeper decline in metallurgical production due to the halted freight traffic across the contact line in Donbas and the seizure of enterprises in the uncontrolled territories.

In addition, robust grain exports in the previous periods and a gradual decline in the carryover grain stocks contributed to the slowdown in grain export growth (to 15.0% yoy against 49.3% yoy in March). Meanwhile, exports of iron ore gained momentum, increasing by 61.8% yoy.

From January to April  2017, merchandise exports rose by 28.0%, compared with the same period a year ago.

Growth of imports of goods decelerated markedly (to 13.4% yoy versus 31.6% in March), reflecting a decline in  energy and machinery imports. In particular, volumes of natural gas imports exceeded 2.6-fold last-year's volumes. However, the annual growth rate slowed down markedly. Meanwhile, coal imports rose significantly in annual terms (78.6% in April), bolstered by sustained high prices for a second month in a row amid a shortage of coal in the domestic market. Also, despite a slight slowdown, energy imports kept increasing at a fast pace. The slowdown in machinery imports growth  was mainly attributed to a drop in imports of mobile telephones and motor vehicles compared to March.

Overall, merchandise imports rose by 22.4% in the January through April period.

In April, Net financial account inflows grew significantly (up to USD 1.1 billion) owing to the public sector disbursements.  Following  the successful completion of the third review under the IMF's EFF Program,   the European Commission disbursed  the next tranche of macrofinancial  assistance loan  of EUR 0.6 billion to Ukraine. FDI inflows have been modest over the past six months, totaling USD 43 million in April.

In the January through April period, the financial account recorded net inflows of USD 1.7 billion versus USD 952 million in the same period last year.

In April, the balance of payments recorded a surplus of USD 970 million versus USD 469 million in April 2016.  Due to the overall BoP surplus (USD 1.0 billion) and a disbursement of the fourth IMF tranche under the EFF program, gross international reserves increased to USD 17.2 billion as of the end of April, or 3.6 months of future imports.

In the first four months of 2017, the overall balance of payments recorded a surplus of USD 386 billion.  

See updated data  for April 2017 under External Sector Statistics section.

See the Macroeconomic and Monetary Review (May  2017), for greater details on macroeconomic developments in April, which will be published on 31 May 2017.