KIEV, Oct. 29 – The National Bank of Ukraine has increased its forecast for Ukraine’s year-end balance of payments deficit, said Ihor Shumylo, a board member and executive director for economic issues at the NBU.

"We lowered our forecasts for the current account of the balance of payments: while earlier it was predicted that the deficit in 2010 would be around $1 billion, now we believe that the deficit will be higher. Nevertheless, our assessments are positive. Along with the worsening of our expectations with regard to the current account, we upgraded the forecast for the financial account: it will have a surplus of $1-1.5 billion," he said.

Shumylo said that the NBU took account of expectations that the government will return a debt of $2 billion to Russia's Vnechtorgbank.