Press Statement

Preasráiteas

03 December 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (03 December 2021) published Quarterly National Accounts and International Accounts for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2021.

Assistant Director General with responsibility for Economic Statistics, Jennifer Banim, commented:

“In today’s results, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 0.9% in Q3 2021. For Gross National Product (GNP) – a measure of economic activity that excludes the profits of multinationals – growth of 5.0% is estimated for the quarter.

In the more globalised sectors of the economy, Industry grew by 7.4% in Q3 2021. For the Information & Communication sector, an increase in output in the quarter was broadly offset by a similar increase in imports of royalties leading to an overall contraction of 0.2% in value added over the period. In the sectors more focused on the domestic market, Distribution, Transport, Hotel & Restaurants increased by 5.1% and the Construction sector also grew by 5.1% in the quarter. The Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector increased by 23.8% while Financial & Insurance Activities contracted by 2.7% and Arts, Entertainment & Other Services decreased by 1.1% over the period.

Looking at expenditure in the economy, personal spending on goods and services (the Personal Consumption Expenditure indicator) increased by 0.5% in the quarter while government spending on goods and services increased by 0.8%. Growth of 1.3% in exports of Goods & Services was more than offset by an increase of 4.5% in imports giving an overall decrease of 4.1% in net exports of Goods & Services in Q3 2021. Lower levels of aircraft imports by aircraft leasing companies drove a decrease of 3.8% in capital formation in the quarter.

In year-to-date results for 2021, GDP increased by 14.5% compared with the first three quarters of 2020 and by 21.7% compared with the corresponding quarters of 2019. Year-to-date personal spending on goods and services increased by 4.3% between 2021 and 2020 but decreased by 7.1% when we compare year-to-date 2021 results with the results for the corresponding quarters of 2019.”

Commenting on the impact of globalisation activities in the quarter, Ms Banim said:

“Final Domestic Demand, a measure of investment, personal and Government spending, decreased by 0.9% in Q3 2021. The Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) indicator – an important measure of underlying domestic demand that excludes the effects of intellectual property products (IPP) and leased aircraft – increased by 1.4% in the quarter. For the year to date, MDD increased by 4.9% compared to the equivalent period in 2020 but is 1.2% lower than the corresponding nine-month period of 2019.

In International Accounts results for Q3 2021, the Current Account of the Balance of Payments recorded a surplus of €23.3 billion in flows with the rest of the world, compared to a surplus of €15.3 billion in Q3, 2020. The Merchandise surplus increased by €7.8 billion compared to the same quarter in 2020 and the Services surplus decreased by €2.0 billion. Net outflows of multinational profits were €22.5 billion in the quarter, a decrease of €0.9 billion on Q3 2020 levels.

Today’s International Accounts publication includes a table of Current Account transactions with the UK. The results show a surplus of €4.0 billion for Trade in Goods & Services with the UK in Q3 2021 compared with a surplus of €3.6 billion in Q3 2020. A deficit of €3.2 billion was recorded for Income flows in the quarter compared with a deficit of €2.0 billion in the same quarter of 2020. Overall, the Current Account surplus with the UK was €0.8 billion in Q3 2021, a decrease of €0.7 billion from the surplus of €1.5 billion recorded in Q3 2020.”

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