In January-April 2012 the surplus of foreign payments for exported and imported commodities and services, revenues and transfers of non-financial corporations and households of Belarus amounted to $139.9 million taking into account the oil export duties that have been transferred to Russia’s state budget, representatives of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus told BelTA.

In January 2012 the surplus of the said foreign payments of Belarus amounted to $130.6 million. The figure stood at $116.9 million in February. In March and April 2012 the deficit of the foreign payments amounted to $62.6 million and $44.9 million respectively.

Since 2011 Belarus has been importing Russian oil without paying duties but has to transfer export duties on oil products made from this oil to Russia. In January-April 2012 Belarus transferred $1,472.6 million in export duties on oil products to Russia, including $363.7 million in April, $448.2 million in March, $324.1 million in February, and $336.6 million in January.

Without these transfers to the Russian budget the surplus of Belarus’ foreign payments that did not involve the relocation of financial assets amounted to $1,612.5 million in January-April 2012. In January-April 2011 the deficit of Belarus’ foreign payments stood at $1,329.4 million. Without oil transfers the surplus of foreign payments stood at $318.7 million in April 2012, $385.6 million in March, $441 million in February, and $467.2 million in January.

In January-April 2012 Belarus received $17.28 billion in foreign currency proceeds from export, revenues, and transfers, 33.9% up on the same period of last year. Proceeds from non-CIS states (mainly the export of oil products and potassium chloride) went up from 58.5% to 62.2% in the total amount of foreign currency Belarus received, with Russia’s share down from 34.9% to 30.4%.

In January-April 2012 the share of US dollars in foreign currency proceeds of Belarus went up from 28.2% to 39.3%. The share of euro fell from 37.6% to 31.3%. The share of Russian ruble shrank from 32.4% to 28.1%. The share of Belarusian ruble amounted to 0.7%. The share of other currencies amounted to 0.6%.

Payments to non-residents for imported commodities and services, for revenues and transfers went up 10% in January-April 2012 to $15.66 billion. Russia’s share in the total amount of payments increased from 55.1% to 66.7%. The share of non-CIS states fell from 40.4% to 29.3%.

In January-April 2012 mandatory sales of foreign currency at the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange went up 60% to $3.87 billion. The share of mandatory sales in the total foreign currency sales grew from 19.4% to 22.6%.

Belta