Press Statement

Preasráiteas

02 December 2022

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (02 December 2022) published Quarterly National Accounts and International Accounts results for Quarter 3 (Q3), 2022.

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 2.3% in Q3 2022. For Gross National Product (GNP) – a measure of economic activity that excludes the profits of multinationals –a decline of 2.2% is estimated for the quarter. 

The globalised Industry sector expanded by 9.0% in Q3 2022 compared with Q2 2022 while the Information & Communication sector posted a decline of 7.4%. Overall, multinational-dominated sectors grew by 2.5% in the quarter, slower growth than in the first two quarters of 2022.The multinational-dominated sectors accounted for almost 56% of total value added in the economy in Q3 2022 (compared with 46% in Q1 2020), while all other sectors made up 44% (54% in Q1 2020).

Domestic Economy

While economic activity increased for many sectors across the economy, the overall picture was mixed.The Agriculture,Forestry and Fishing sector grew by 13.6% in the quarter while the domestically focussed Construction sector expanded by 0.9% compared with Q2 2022. However, the Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants sector declined by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter. Growth of 1.6% was posted in the Arts & Entertainment sector, 1.2% in Real Estate, and 0.4% in Public Administration, Education & Health. There were declines in Professional, Administrative & Support activities and Finance & Insurance in the quarter of 2.5% and 5.2% respectively.

Expenditure in the Economy

Looking at expenditure, investment rose by 91.8% or €23.4bn driven mainly by investment in Intangible Assets. Net exports of Goods & Services fell by 40.9% in Q3 2022, or by €21.4bn. Personal spending on goods and services (the PCE indicator) increased by 0.3% in the quarter while Government spending on goods and services fell by 0.3% in Q3 2022. Examining PCE at constant price levels over the past three years, personal spending in Q3 2022 was 1.3% below the peak pre-pandemic level of personal spending of €28.2 billion recorded in Q2 2019.

Impact of Globalisation and the Indicators of Underlying Domestic Activity

Final Domestic Demand (FDD), a measure of personal, government and investment spending, increased by 36.7% in Q3 2022, reflecting increased Intellectual Property Products (IPP) investment spending compared with the previous quarter. In Q3 2022, the Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) indicator declined by 1.1%. MDD is an important measure of underlying demand and excludes the globalisation effects of trade in IPP and trade in aircraft by leasing companies from the standard Final Domestic Demand measure.

International Accounts

In the International Accounts, the Current Account of the Balance of Payments recorded a deficit of €4.5 billion in flows with the rest of the world in Q3 2022, a disimprovement of €27.1 billion compared with the surplus of €22.7 billion in Q3 2021. The Merchandise balance improved by €8.7 billion in Q3 2022 compared with the same quarter in 2021, while the Services balance disimproved by €23.6 billion driven by imports of IPP. Net outflows of multinational profits were €33.8 billion in the quarter, an increase of €11.3 billion on Q3 2021 levels.”

Analysing the period from January to September 2022, Ms Banim further commented:

“Results for the first nine months of 2022 (January to September 2022) compared with the equivalent period of 2021 show GDP increasing by 11.7%, personal spending (PCE) increased by 7.2% while the MDD indicator grew by 10.1% over the same period.”

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