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International Accounts Q1 2021

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows surplus of €3.4bn in Quarter 1 2021

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q4 2018	-0.676	3.267	-3.917	-1.326
Q1 2019	-1.755	3.087	-3.29	-1.957
Q2 2019	-0.736	3.447	-4.478	-1.767
Q3 2019	-0.948	3.835	-3.786	-0.899
Q4 2019	-1.326	3.974	-2.691	-0.043
Q1 2020	-1.117	3.319	-3.351	-1.15
Q2 2020	-1.226	3.43	-2.116	0.088
Q3 2020	-0.936	4.147	-1.956	1.254
Q4 2020	-1.605	3.935	-2.184	0.146
Q1 2021	1.305	3.571	-1.473	3.402

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €5,494m in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of €508m compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Merchandise imports were €4,189m in the first quarter of 2021, a decrease of €1,914m compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Services exports at €8,914m increased by €643m compared to the first quarter of 2020, mainly due computer and financial exports.
Services imports at €5,343m were up €391m over that same period in 2020. These figures were affected by increased levels of financial and computer costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,795m, increased by €521m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €7,306m decreased by €1,334m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €2,674m and net income outflows have decreased by €1,878m, compared with the first quarter of 2020. The result is a current account balance surplus of €3,402m in the first quarter of 2021, up from a deficit of €1,150m in the first quarter of 2020.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has increased by €1,194m in the first quarter of 2021. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €1,565m in the first quarter of 2021 mainly due to increases in reinvested earnings and other capital.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK												€ million
		2019	2020	2019				2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	21,276	20,353	5,140	5,171	5,261	5,704	4,986	4,448	4,916	6,003	5,494
	Imports	26,041	25,237	6,895	5,907	6,209	7,030	6,103	5,674	5,852	7,608	4,189

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,302	3,259	856	764	800	882	779	839	675	966	944

Services	Exports	34,896	34,281	7,798	8,504	8,972	9,622	8,271	7,787	8,518	9,705	8,914
	Imports	20,553	19,450	4,711	5,057	5,137	5,648	4,952	4,357	4,371	5,770	5,343
Transport	Exports	2,488	919	368	669	897	554	345	118	312	144	94
	Imports	590	566	155	137	140	158	144	128	132	162	133
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,027	287	209	264	316	238	179	10	62	36	12
	Imports	1,386	525	356	284	345	401	283	17	110	115	46
Insurance	Exports	1,980	1,948	487	474	489	530	552	486	446	464	553
	Imports	1,862	1,619	442	495	453	472	508	410	343	358	516
Financial services	Exports	6,745	7,002	1,653	1,602	1,666	1,824	1,475	1,655	1,809	2,063	1,910
	Imports	6,337	6,499	1,486	1,542	1,542	1,767	1,285	1,625	1,462	2,127	1,786
Royalties/Licences	Exports	460	399	95	94	109	162	77	80	84	158	93
	Imports	279	199	72	68	70	69	66	44	43	46	72
Computer services³	Exports	12,378	14,363	2,803	2,928	3,099	3,548	3,244	3,112	3,549	4,458	4,053
	Imports	176	142	36	42	47	51	21	35	43	43	53
Business services	Exports	5,114	4,586	1,225	1,261	1,236	1,392	1,288	1,038	1,001	1,259	1,038
	Imports	9,299	9,253	2,007	2,326	2,387	2,579	2,499	1,946	2,072	2,736	2,499
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	925	838	244	223	226	232	246	212	190	190	196
	Imports	157	139	*	*	*	38	*	*	*	*	*
Other	Exports	4,704	4,774	959	1,211	1,160	1,374	1,109	1,287	1,255	1,123	1,161
	Imports	623	647	156	161	153	153	145	153	166	183	238

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	56,173	54,634	12,939	13,675	14,233	15,326	13,257	12,235	13,434	15,708	14,408
	Imports	46,595	44,687	11,606	10,964	11,346	12,679	11,055	10,031	10,223	13,378	9,531

Trade balance	Net	9,579	9,947	1,333	2,711	2,887	2,648	2,202	2,204	3,211	2,330	4,876

Primary Income	Inflows	24,972	21,395	5,619	6,573	6,556	6,224	5,330	5,949	5,328	4,788	5,817
	Outflows	39,361	31,132	8,960	11,082	10,373	8,946	8,718	8,096	7,315	7,003	7,347
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	24,748	21,275	5,563	6,517	6,500	6,168	5,274	5,928	5,307	4,766	5,795
	Outflows	39,042	30,924	8,879	11,003	10,294	8,866	8,640	8,052	7,269	6,963	7,306
Direct investment income	Inflows	1,733	1,991	80	753	775	125	-61	1,065	796	191	1,266
	Outflows	3,949	1,562	706	1,435	1,081	727	414	616	285	247	19
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	15,296	14,099	3,695	3,868	3,895	3,838	3,905	3,497	3,332	3,365	3,382
	Outflows	31,726	26,188	7,278	8,857	8,315	7,276	7,295	6,648	6,297	5,948	6,526
Other investment income	Inflows	7,718	5,185	1,787	1,896	1,830	2,205	1,430	1,365	1,179	1,211	1,147
	Outflows	3,368	3,174	895	711	899	863	932	787	687	768	760

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,120	1,828	286	261	291	282	537	412	454	425	306
	Outflows	976	1,698	235	230	260	251	500	381	423	394	249

Income balance	Net	-14,245	-9,607	-3,290	-4,478	-3,786	-2,691	-3,351	-2,116	-1,956	-2,184	-1,473

Current Account - Total	Inflows	82,264	77,855	18,843	20,509	21,080	21,832	19,124	18,596	19,215	20,920	20,530
	Outflows	86,930	77,516	20,800	22,276	21,979	21,875	20,273	18,508	17,961	20,774	17,128

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-4,666	338	-1,957	-1,767	-899	-43	-1,150	88	1,254	146	3,402
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 2021 Table 3.1 (XLS 16KB)

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with UK¹												€ million
		2019	2020	2019				2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1

Direct Investment	Abroad	6,411	1,206	5,553	1,409	-1,539	988	-7	513	70	630	1,565
	In Ireland	-9,824	6,549	4,022	3,815	-6,526	-11,135	1,857	2,804	864	1,024	1,194

Equity	Abroad	3,846	57	4,862	138	-1,907	753	675	-214	-485	81	-186
	In Ireland	*	792	1,716	-1,437	541	*	1,032	-1,026	-46	832	93
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,460	1,607	-34	732	683	79	-166	1,010	740	23	1,123
	In Ireland	2,588	411	303	1,174	836	275	-98	396	220	-107	-179
Other Capital	Abroad	1,105	-459	725	539	-315	156	-516	-283	-185	525	628
	In Ireland	*	5,347	2,003	4,077	-7,903	*	924	3,434	690	299	1,279
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'.

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International Accounts Q1 2021

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows surplus of €3.4bn in Quarter 1 2021

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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