Poland's current-account balance was - unexpectedly - positive in April and amounted to EUR 468mn vs. deficit of EUR 200mn a month earlier and a gap of EUR 655mn in April of 2012, according to the data of the National Bank of Poland (NBP). Market consensus was a gap of EUR 150-160mn. This was the highest ever C/A surplus in Poland; previously, a surplus was noted in February of 2009.
The central bank attributed the positive C/A figure to positive balance of current transfers (EUR 795mn), trade in goods (EUR 601mn) and services (EUR 545mn) as well as negative balance of income (EUR 1.473mn).
The central bank said that the surplus in the current account resulted mainly from the positive balance of trade in goods. Total balance of current and capital accounts was positive and amounted to EUR 492mn.
Poland's exports increased by 12.3% y/y to EUR 13,279mn in April of 2013, NBP also reported. Imports noted a growth of 3.6% to EUR 12,678mn. In the entire 2012, exports increased by 4.2%, while imports were up by 0.9%. This increase in exports has been influenced by increase in exports of food, transport equipment (goods for processing), clothing, pharmaceutical products and plastics, NBP explained.
Bank economists estimate the 12-month C/A gap at 2.7% of GDP in April of 2013 vs. 3.5% in 2012.
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