Poland’s balance of payments in March 2022
NBP data: In March 2022, the current account of the balance of payments posted deficits in the trade in goods account (PLN 15.5bn), primary income account (PLN 7.3bn), and secondary income account (PLN 1.4bn) as well as a surplus on the service account (PLN 10.0bn).
Preliminary data on Poland’s balance of payments in March 2022, released by NBP on 13 May 2022, show a deficit of PLN 14.2bn on the country’s current account. In the corresponding month of 2021, this balance was positive and stood at PLN 0.6bn.
In March 2022, the value of goods exports amounted to PLN 123.0bn, representing an increase of PLN 20.7bn (i.e. 20.2%) as compared with the corresponding month of 2021. The value of goods imports, compared with March 2021, increased by PLN 38.8bn (i.e. by 39.0%), reaching PLN 138.5bn. Like in previous months, the largest increases in both exports and imports occurred in categories covering fuels and intermediate goods, which was due to the substantial impact of prices on nominal changes in trade, with changes in volumes remaining relatively small. The widening gap between the pace of growth exports and imports was driven by the war in Ukraine.
Exports of services amounted to PLN 27.0 billion, up by PLN 5.2 billion (i.e. 23.9%), on the corresponding month of 2021. Imports stood at 17.0bn, having increased by PLN 3.7bn (or 27.4%) on March 2021 r.
This negative balance was primarily determined by foreign direct investors’ income on their capital involvement in Polish companies, which amounted to PLN 10.1 billion. The balance on primary income was also influenced by payments of income due to portfolio investment (PLN 0.7 billion) and other investment (PLN 0.8 billion).