Poland’s balance of payments in April 2024

Date of publication:

NBP data: In April 2024, the current account of the balance of payments posted surpluses in the services account (PLN 13.4bn) and the trade in goods account (PLN 0.9bn), and deficits in the primary income account (PLN 12.0bn) and the secondary income account (PLN 3.3bn).

Preliminary data on Poland’s balance of payments in April 2024, released on 13 June 2024, show a deficit of PLN 1.0bn on the country’s current account. In the corresponding month of 2023, the balance was also negative and stood at PLN 10.5bn.

The marked reduction in the scale of falls in goods trade compared to previous months resulted primarily from more working days in April 2024. The value of goods exports amounted to PLN 120.4bn, representing a 2.2% decrease on the corresponding month of 2023. The value of goods imports decreased by 2.0% on the April 2023 figure, reaching PLN 119.5bn.

In April 2024, the value of exports declined compared to the corresponding month of 2023, including a fall in exports of investment goods, intermediate goods and means of transport. Foreign sales deteriorated in the automotive industry, where the fall in exports was stronger than in total exports. This was driven by a further decrease in exports of electric batteries and a fall in exports of passenger cars. April 2024 saw a slight increase in exports of consumer goods, especially as a result of an increase in sales of TV sets.

Imports of intermediate goods, investment goods and fuels continued to decline. However, the scale of the decrease in the value of imported fuels proved significantly smaller than in previous months. This was partly due to the gradual weakening of the downward trend in the prices of energy commodities in global markets and stabilisation in the volume of deliveries. At the same time, imports of agricultural goods and consumer goods posted a slight increase. A distinct growth trend continued in imports of means of transport, with the strongest increase observed again in the import of passenger cars.

Exports of services stood at PLN 35.4bn, representing a decrease of PLN 1.4bn (i.e. 3.7%) on the corresponding month of 2023. Imports of services stood at PLN 22.0bn, having increased by PLN 0.2bn (i.e. 0.9%) on the April 2023 figure.

The negative balance of the primary income was largely determined by foreign direct investors’ income on their equity investment in Polish entities, which amounted to PLN 11.7bn. The balance of the primary income account was also influenced by the payment of income on portfolio investment (PLN 3.1bn) and on other investment (PLN 2.3bn).