In two months of 2022, Belarus increased currency earnings to $7.516bn

In January-February 2022, payments for exports of goods and services, income and transfers (currency earnings) to Belarus increased by 18.2 percent compared to January-February 2021 to reach $7.516bn – as informed by the National Bank of Belarus

Separately, in February 2022, currency earnings stood at $3.85bn – up 14.6 percent compared to February 2021 and up 5.1 percent compared to January 2022.

In the structure of currency earnings, in January-February 2022, export payments of goods increased by 18.4 percent compared to January-February 2021 to achieve $5.806bn, export payments of services rose by 18.9 percent to reach $1.569m, income payments were up by 9.9 percent to make up $36.5m, and transfers rose by 6.2 percent to total $104.8m.

Payments on imports of goods and services, payments on income and transfers of non-financial enterprises and households abroad increased in January-February of this year by 35.1 percent (compared to January-February 2021) to stand at $8.024bn.

Separately, in February 2022, import payments amounted to $4.137bn – up 36.8 percent compared to February 2021 and up 6.4 percent compared to January 2022.

In the structure of payments, in January-February 2022, payments for imports of goods increased by 43.6 percent compared to January-February 2021 to reach $7.009bn, payments for imports of services decreased by 18 percent to reach $669m, income payments rose by 58.7 percent to make up $254.7m, and transfer payments were up by 11.9 percent to total $91.4m.

The National Bank also reported that in general, in the first two months of this year, there was a negative balance of foreign economic payments for goods, services, income and transfers of non-financial enterprises and households in the amount of $508m against a positive balance of $416.9m in January-February 2021.

As reported, Belarus increased currency earnings last year by 32.1 percent compared to 2020, to $49.472bn. Payments for imports of goods and services, payments for income and transfers of non-financial enterprises and households abroad increased last year by 28.9 percent to reach $47.16bn.