Bosnia’s current account gap shrinks 38% y/y to EUR 383mn in H1 2013

By bne IntelliNews September 30, 2013

Bosnia’s current account deficit narrowed 37.6% y/y to BAM 750mn (EUR 383mn) in January-June 2013, mainly on the back of falling foreign trade gap and higher investment income from abroad, central bank data showed. The six-month current account gap equalled to 2.7% of the full-year GDP forecast, down from 4.6% a year earlier, according to IntelliNews calculations.

Exports rose markedly by 10.5% y/y to BAM 2.7bn in the first half of the year, reflecting improved economic activity and low prior-year base. Imports dropped a mild 2.2% to BAM 6.3bn over the period. As a result the January-June foreign trade gap improved to 12.9% of GDP (BAM 3.6bn) from 15.1% (BAM 4.0bn) a year earlier. Higher primary income account surplus which was underpinned by rising investment revenue (up 30.2% y/y to BAM 63mn) also contributed to the H1 CA gap narrowing. The surplus of the service account remained flat on the year at BAM 1bn in H1 as higher tourism and processing services revenue offset falling income from transport, construction and telecom services.

The surplus of the financial account shrank 43.7% to BAM 535mn in H1, despite strong increase of net FDI. The latter more than doubled on the year to BAM 476.8mn in January-June. It covered over 64% of the current account deficit, up from just 19% the year before.

Bosnia's 2012 current account gap narrowed 1.7% to BAM 2.4bn after widening by close to 66% in 2011, mainly due to higher service (transport, travel and construction) revenue which offset slower increase of the foreign trade gap.

The central bank revised all balance of payments data in 2012 in accordance with the IMF’s sixth edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment position Manual (BP6), the bank said earlier.

Bosnia's balance of payments (BAM mn) H1 12 H1 13  y/y, %
Current account -1,202.6 -750.0 -37.6
Foreign trade balance -3,975.0 -3,577.1 -10.0
Services 1,021.3 1,023.4 0.2
Primary income 35.1 162.5 362.5
Secondary income* 1,715.9 1,641.2 -4.4
Capital account 66.3 59.4 -10.4
Financial account** -950.7 -535.4 -43.7
Net FDI -224.1 -476.8 112.8
Portfolio investments 37.9 71.3 87.9
Other investments -220.1 -202.3 -8.1
Net errors and ommissions 113.9 100.9 -11.4
Source: CBBH; *includes current transfers between residents and non-residents ; **calculated as assets abroad (outflow) minus liabilities (inflow)

 

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