The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods over January-August 2021 decreased by 33.9% compared to the same period in 2020, to $1.731 billion from $2.619 billion, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine reported on Wednesday.
According to its data, exports of goods from Ukraine over the specified period increased by 35.6% compared to the same period in 2020, to $41.788 billion, and imports – by 30.1%, to $43.519 billion.
The State Statistics Service clarified that in August, compared with July 2021, the seasonally adjusted volume of exports increased by 1.9%, to $6.008 billion, imports – by 0.6%, to $6.089 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in August 2021 was negative and amounted to $80 million, which is better than the previous month ($156 million).
The coverage of imports by exports in eight months of this year amounted to 0.96% (over the same period in 2020 – 0.92%).
The State Statistics Service specified that foreign trade operations were carried out with partners from 231 countries of the world.
The state budget in January-June 2021 had a deficit of UAH 43.2 billion, and the general fund deficit was almost UAH 50.2 billion, the State Treasury Service of Ukraine has reported.
According to the data on its website, the state budget deficit in June 2021 amounted to UAH 9.47 billion, including the deficit of the general fund reached UAH 18.4 billion.
As the State Treasury Service said, borrowings in the first six months of 2021 amounted to UAH 264.7 billion, including external – UAH 51.5 billion, while repayments for the specified period reached UAH 231 billion, including on external liabilities – almost UAH 24.7 billion.
According to the State Treasury Service, privatization in January-June of this year brought UAH 1.048 billion, while at the end of the year UAH 12 billion is expected to be received under this item.
In general, state budget receipts in the first half of the year amounted to almost UAH 592 billion, including UAH 505.9 billion in the general fund, and expenditures reached UAH 633.6 billion, including UAH 558.7 billion in the general fund, according to the data of the State Treasury Service.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-November 2020 decreased 58.6% compared to January-November 2019, to $3.897 billion from $9.417 billion, the State Statistics Service reported on Thursday.
According to its data, the export of goods from Ukraine for the reporting period compared to the same period in 2019 fell by 3.5%, to $44.347 billion, imports narrowed by 12.9%, to $48.244 billion.
The State Statistics Service said that in November, compared with October 2020, the seasonally adjusted export volume increased 2.5%, to $4.374 billion, imports grew by 4.3%, to $4.791 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in November 2020 posted a deficit and amounted to $0.417 billion, a month earlier it also showed a deficit being $0.323 billion.
The ratio of exports to imports in January-April of this year amounted to 0.92 (in January-November-2019 it was 0.83).
The State Statistics Service said that foreign trade operations were carried out with partners from 232 countries.
Domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers hope to simplify the procedure and conditions for state registration of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), which will allow maintaining the volume of drug production in conditions of API shortage, said President of the Association of Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU) Petro Bahriy.
“At one of the meetings in the Ministry of Health, it was decided to simplify the procedure and conditions for state registration of APIs that are part of all medicines, due to the aggravation of the problems of supplying raw materials for the production of drugs to Ukraine due to the introduction of restrictions on export by main suppliers (China, India), in case of replacement of the API manufacturer for the registration of alternative API suppliers in order to avoid a shortage of necessary medicines,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The head of the AMMU also noted that domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers hope that the possibilities of using mechanisms of state guarantees, state orders and state reserves for the procurement of medicines will be considered.
At the same time, Bahriy believes that one of the real steps of the state, which would allow solving the problem of the deficit of imported APIs, could be an appeal by the Ukrainian embassies to the governments of the countries in which APIs are produced.
“We need to consider real steps. This can be help from our embassies, which can appeal to the governments of the states where APIs are produced, for example, China or India, so that they somehow pay attention to Ukraine, increase quotas. Although we understand that the effect of this is unlikely will take place, since the United States, the EU, and the whole world, which is in line, turn to these governments,” he said.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-November 2020 halved compared to the same period in 2019, to $3.93 billion from $8.15 billion, in November the foreign trade deficit amounted to $590 million compared to $360 million in deficit in October and $860 million in deficit in November last year. According to the data of the State Customs Service, export of goods from Ukraine for the specified period compared to the same period in 2019 decreased by 3.51%, to $44.45 billion, import by 10.77%, to $48.38 billion.
The State Customs Service clarified that in November this year, compared with October, the volume of exports increased by 2.21%, to $4.73 billion, imports by 6.75%, to $5.32 billion.
At the same time, compared to November 2019, exports increased by 9.15%, imports by 2.43% in monetary terms.
According to the customs data, China remains the largest trade partner of Ukraine in January-November with a trade turnover of $43.9 billion, a deficit of almost $15.6 billion. It is followed by the Russian Federation (a turnover of $39.7 billion, a negative balance of $12.97 billion) and Germany (trade turnover is $28.3 billion, a deficit of $11.86 billion), according to the State Customs Service.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has reduced the deficit in the draft national budget for 2021 from 6% to 5.5% of GDP, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“An opportunity has been found to reduce the budget deficit to GDP from 6%, as proposed at first reading, to 5.5%,” he said at an extraordinary government meeting on Thursday.
Thus, the deficit was reduced by UAH 24 billion, to UAH 246.35 billion.
In the initial draft, state budget revenues were determined at the level of UAH 1.071 trillion, expenses – UAH 1.331 trillion. The new wording of the bill provides for UAH 1.092 trillion in revenues and UAH 1.328 trillion in expenses.
As reported, the state budget for 2020 provides for a deficit of 7.5% of GDP.
