Press Statement

Preasráiteas

03 June 2022

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (03 June 2022) published Quarterly National Accounts and International Accounts results for Quarter 1 (Q1), 2022 .

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

“Growth continued in the more globalised sectors of the economy in Q1 2022 with Industry increasing by 15.0% and the Information & Communication sector growing by 4.3%. Overall, multinational dominated sectors grew by 14.1% in the quarter. Sectors focused on the domestic market grew by 7.6% in Q1 2022, driven by an increase of 11.9% in Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants. Construction contracted by 3.7% in the quarter.

Looking at expenditure in the economy, personal spending on goods and services (the PCE indicator) decreased by 0.7% in Q1 2022. Investment in capital formation decreased by 39.5% in the quarter explained by a fall in investment in intellectual property products (IPP) when compared to Q4 2021. Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), a broad measure of underlying domestic demand that excludes IPP and aircraft related globalisation effects, decreased by 1.0% in Q1 2022. 

Overall, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 10.8% in Q1 2022, driven significantly by an increase of 5.2% in Exports of Goods & Services. Net factor income outflows of €34.7 billion – which includes multinational profits – were recorded in Q1 2022, the highest to date. Consequently, Gross National Product (GNP), a measure of the economy that reflects the impact of factor incomes flows, decreased by 0.4% in the quarter.”

Commenting on transactions with the rest of the world, Ms Banim said:

“In International Accounts results, the Current Account of the Balance of Payments recorded a surplus of €17.4 billion in flows with the rest of the world in Q1 2022 compared to a surplus of €19.0 billion in Q1 2021. Improvements of €4.1 billion and €0.6 billion in the merchandise and services surpluses respectively year-on-year were offset by an increase of €7.3 billion in net outflows of multinational profits.

Today’s International Accounts publication includes a table of Current Account transactions with the UK. The results show a surplus of €2.8 billion for Trade in Goods & Services with the UK in Q1 2022 compared with a surplus of €4.9 billion in Q1 2021. Net income outflows of €3.2 billion were recorded in the quarter compared with outflows of €1.5 billion in the same quarter of 2021. Overall, the Current Account deficit with the UK was €367 million in Q1 2022, a disimprovement of €3.8 billion from the surplus of €3.4 billion recorded in Q1 2021.”

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