July's booming imports upset the trade balance

 "This is mainly the result of a high foreign trade deficit and relatively low inflow of transfers from the EU," said Maja Goettig, an economist with Bank BPH. Analysts had expected that imports in July rose 18.3% and exports by 16.4%, but in fact the figures amounted to 24.3% and 15.8% respectively. "The main reason for the high growth of imports is strong internal demand: rapidly growing consumption and investments. The import figure was also affected by a one-off transaction: according to our information four F-16 jets landed in Poland at the end of July," said Maja Goettig. The current account deficit presently amounts to 3.7% of GDP, which is further negatively affected by a decreasing share of FDI in its financing. According to analysts this hallmarks a deteriorating balance of payments due to growing  trade deficit and repatriation of profits. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 7) M.M.