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International Accounts Q1 2019

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with UK shows deficit of €1.6bn in Quarter 1 2019

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q1 2016	0.881	1.758	-2.848	-0.209
Q2 2016	0.245	2.351	-3.545	-0.949
Q3 2016	0.44	2.722	-3.702	-0.54
Q4 2016	1.052	2.438	-2.414	1.076
Q1 2017	0.712	2.464	-2.189	0.987
Q2 2017	0.452	3.172	-3.688	-0.065
Q3 2017	-0.039	3.253	-3.045	0.171
Q4 2017	-0.507	2.303	-2.065	-0.27
Q1 2018	-0.299	2.134	-2.407	-0.574
Q2 2018	-0.247	2.607	-4.186	-1.825
Q3 2018	-0.228	2.976	-3.414	-0.665
Q4 2018	-0.513	2.733	-4.277	-2.058
Q1 2019	-1.059	2.418	-2.921	-1.561

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €5,540m in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of €111m compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Merchandise imports were €6,599m in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of €871m compared with the first quarter of 2018.
Services exports at €7,230m increased by €793m compared to the first quarter of 2018, mainly due to computer, financial and business services exports.
Service imports at €4,812m were up €509m over that same period in 2018. These figures were affected by increased levels of financial, business and tourism and travel costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,066m, increased by €765m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €7,954m increased by €1,276m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has decreased by €476m and net income outflows have increased by €514m, compared with the first quarter of 2018. The result is a current account deficit of €1,561m in the first quarter of 2019, down from the deficit of €574m in the first quarter of 2018.

We have also included a new experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); this table shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has increased by €4,053m in the first quarter of 2019. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €6,791m in the first quarter of 2019 mainly due to increases in equity and other capital.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK												€ million
		2017	2018	2017				2018				2019
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	23,821	23,051	6,042	6,311	5,619	5,849	5,429	5,536	5,769	6,317	5,540
	Imports	23,203	24,338	5,330	5,859	5,658	6,356	5,728	5,783	5,997	6,830	6,599

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	4,031	4,863	1,083	957	945	1,046	1,129	1,213	1,143	1,378	913

Services	Exports	26,279	28,282	5,998	6,583	6,916	6,782	6,437	6,922	7,454	7,469	7,230
	Imports	15,087	17,832	3,534	3,411	3,663	4,479	4,303	4,315	4,478	4,736	4,812
Transport	Exports	2,349	2,390	369	631	866	483	395	640	872	483	368
	Imports	534	564	128	133	128	145	136	136	138	154	150
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,032	1,008	204	273	310	245	212	269	299	228	201
	Imports	1,051	1,158	248	233	276	294	289	235	290	344	326
Insurance	Exports	2,476	2,542	641	606	591	638	664	628	609	641	642
	Imports	1,590	1,724	401	387	376	426	421	428	450	425	446
Financial services	Exports	5,660	5,670	1,381	1,320	1,468	1,491	1,475	1,425	1,393	1,377	1,633
	Imports	4,161	4,535	1,023	977	1,079	1,082	1,135	1,152	1,137	1,111	1,433
Royalties/Licences	Exports	358	371	80	77	79	122	81	74	55	161	103
	Imports	483	330	136	109	127	111	82	78	81	89	67
Computer services³	Exports	6,389	8,296	1,458	1,579	1,595	1,757	1,652	1,821	2,242	2,581	2,347
	Imports	247	220	42	65	65	75	61	44	50	65	42
Business services	Exports	4,327	4,400	1,035	1,146	1,036	1,110	1,019	1,132	1,093	1,156	1,159
	Imports	6,429	8,706	1,412	1,366	1,457	2,194	2,033	2,093	2,182	2,398	2,196
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	754	728	176	192	186	200	162	200	178	188	230
	Imports	28	38	7	7	7	7	9	9	11	9	42
Other	Exports	3,689	3,603	831	951	972	935	939	932	891	841	777
	Imports	594	594	144	142	156	152	145	149	151	149	152

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	50,100	51,333	12,039	12,894	12,536	12,631	11,866	12,459	13,223	13,785	12,770
	Imports	38,290	42,170	8,863	9,271	9,320	10,836	10,031	10,098	10,475	11,566	11,411

Trade balance	Net	11,810	9,163	3,176	3,623	3,215	1,795	1,835	2,361	2,748	2,219	1,359

Primary Income	Inflows	17,195	18,568	4,151	4,252	4,210	4,582	4,357	5,041	5,137	4,033	5,121
	Outflows	28,168	32,832	6,348	7,933	7,247	6,640	6,758	9,222	8,546	8,306	8,038
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	16,970	18,343	4,095	4,197	4,152	4,526	4,301	4,985	5,080	3,977	5,066
	Outflows	27,837	32,509	6,264	7,851	7,166	6,556	6,678	9,141	8,465	8,225	7,954
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,373	2,541	620	437	488	828	538	714	789	500	294
	Outflows	4,353	3,987	980	1,214	1,141	1,018	748	1,204	1,081	954	667
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	10,919	11,938	2,631	2,856	2,701	2,731	2,783	3,142	3,086	2,927	3,245
	Outflows	21,349	25,238	4,797	6,111	5,452	4,989	5,368	7,176	6,438	6,256	6,583
Other investment income	Inflows	3,677	3,862	843	904	963	967	979	1,129	1,204	550	1,527
	Outflows	2,136	3,284	487	527	573	549	562	761	946	1,015	704

Secondary Income	Inflows	2,056	1,860	546	528	561	421	514	493	393	460	464
	Outflows	2,070	1,880	538	535	569	428	520	498	398	464	468

Income balance	Net	-10,987	-14,284	-2,189	-3,688	-3,045	-2,065	-2,407	-4,186	-3,414	-4,277	-2,921

Current Account - Total	Inflows	69,353	71,761	16,737	17,675	17,307	17,634	16,736	17,993	18,754	18,278	18,355
	Outflows	68,528	76,882	15,749	17,739	17,136	17,904	17,310	19,817	19,419	20,336	19,916

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	823	-5,122	987	-65	171	-270	-574	-1,825	-665	-2,058	-1,561
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.
²Under the credit item, passenger fare receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
³Covers exports and imports of software that were not incorporated as part of computer hardware or physical media but separately transmitted by electronic means. The value of sales and purchases of additional software licences is also included.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q1 2019 Table 3.1 (XLS 20KB)

Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with UK¹												€ million
		2017	2018	2017				2018				2019
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1

Direct Investment	Abroad	2,010	2,342	30	761	-488	1,707	-799	1,169	1,140	832	6,791
	In Ireland	4,661	-16,735	-2,527	2,221	-3,166	8,133	-3,801	1,479	-91	-14,322	4,053

Equity	Abroad	771	-237	-353	334	-180	970	-1,870	1,279	346	8	5,699
	In Ireland	1,463	-4,917	-286	-37	318	1,468	*	659	172	*	1,734
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,984	2,035	540	304	384	756	515	347	734	439	237
	In Ireland	2,838	2,422	220	945	914	759	329	853	632	608	283
Other Capital	Abroad	-746	544	-157	123	-693	-19	556	-457	61	384	854
	In Ireland	361	-14,241	-2,461	1,314	-4,398	5,906	*	-33	-896	*	2,036
¹For Direct Investment, a 'directional' categorisation is used: 'Abroad' indicates direct investment by Irish investors in British companies; British direct investment into Ireland is indicated by the heading 'In Ireland'.

International Accounts Q1 2019

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows deficit of €1.6bn in Quarter 1 2019

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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