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International Accounts Q1 2023

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows a deficit of €4.2bn in Quarter 1 2023

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical release, 02 June 2023, 11am

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q4 2020	-1.679	4.475	-2.193	0.603
Q1 2021	0.586	3.519	-2.253	1.852
Q2 2021	-0.67	4.095	-3.927	-0.504
Q3 2021	0.143	3.948	-3.852	0.239
Q4 2021	-1.013	5.274	-2.694	1.567
Q1 2022	-1.436	4.206	-3.157	-0.388
Q2 2022	-1.231	5.066	-4.881	-1.046
Q3 2022	-2.438	4.545	-4.213	-2.106
Q4 2022	-2.452	4.551	-5.35	-3.251
Q1 2023	-1.419	3.653	-6.456	-4.222

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €7,440m in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of €490m compared with the first quarter of 2022.
Merchandise imports were €8,859m in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of €473m compared with the same period in 2022.
Services exports at €10,258m increased by €225m compared to the first quarter of 2022, mainly due to transport and business exports.
Services imports at €6,605m were up €778m over that same period in 2022, these figures were affected by increased levels of business and tourism and travel costs.
Investment income earned in the UK at €8,249m, increased by €2,609m compared with one year earlier and investment income payable to UK investors at €14,729m increased by €5,898m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has decreased by €535m and net income outflows have increased by €3,299m, compared with the first quarter of 2022. The result is a deficit of €4,222m in the first quarter of 2023, compared to -€388m over the same period in 2022.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with the UK (See Table 3.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has increased by €2,627m in the first quarter of 2023 mainly due to increases in other capital and reinvested earnings. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has also increased by €960m in the first quarter of 2023.

Table 3.1 Current Account with the UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with the UK													€ million
			2021	2022	2021				2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	25,766	30,474	5,598	6,144	6,721	7,303	6,950	8,096	7,652	7,776	7,440
		Imports	26,720	38,031	5,012	6,814	6,578	8,316	8,386	9,327	10,090	10,228	8,859

	of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	4,117	4,021	970	807	1,086	1,254	1,091	939	1,013	978	907

Services		Exports	40,241	44,113	8,987	9,803	10,166	11,285	10,033	11,197	11,355	11,528	10,258
		Imports	23,405	25,745	5,468	5,708	6,218	6,011	5,827	6,131	6,810	6,977	6,605
	Transport	Exports	1,021	2,863	80	141	453	347	306	716	1,174	667	595
		Imports	787	1,078	152	192	193	250	240	251	296	291	267
	Tourism and Travel²	Exports	286	1,036	17	20	107	142	138	201	326	371	327
		Imports	698	1,627	65	87	225	321	258	337	481	551	548
	Insurance	Exports	2,621	2,676	562	639	566	854	649	696	652	679	680
		Imports	1,788	1,906	520	420	410	438	399	454	503	550	506
	Financial services	Exports	8,066	7,165	1,969	2,079	2,039	1,979	1,928	1,838	1,888	1,511	1,644
		Imports	7,821	7,505	1,844	1,989	2,039	1,949	1,844	1,813	2,002	1,846	1,855
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	533	567	88	96	120	229	140	128	114	185	85
		Imports	290	239	74	63	80	73	61	55	61	62	117
	Computer services³	Exports	17,627	18,748	4,135	4,291	4,291	4,910	4,381	4,701	4,625	5,041	4,447
		Imports	380	384	62	90	119	109	75	95	102	112	40
	Business services	Exports	5,122	6,189	1,122	1,224	1,371	1,405	1,266	1,605	1,541	1,777	1,513
		Imports	10,390	11,854	2,475	2,558	2,828	2,529	2,679	2,824	3,092	3,259	3,049
	(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	787	785	216	191	192	188	206	187	194	198	199
		Imports	139	134	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Other	Exports	4,963	4,867	1,014	1,313	1,219	1,417	1,225	1,311	1,034	1,297	968
		Imports	1,247	1,152	275	308	324	340	273	301	273	305	223

Merchandise and Services Total		Exports	66,006	74,586	14,585	15,946	16,887	18,588	16,983	19,292	19,007	19,304	17,698
		Imports	50,125	63,777	10,480	12,522	12,796	14,327	14,214	15,458	16,900	17,205	15,465

Trade balance		Net	15,881	10,810	4,105	3,424	4,091	4,261	2,769	3,835	2,107	2,099	2,234

Primary Income		Inflows	22,790	26,288	5,696	5,566	5,530	5,998	5,670	6,301	6,917	7,400	8,283
		Outflows	35,756	43,968	8,009	9,553	9,442	8,752	8,879	11,234	11,182	12,673	14,784
	(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	22,704	26,158	5,674	5,544	5,509	5,977	5,640	6,269	6,883	7,366	8,249
		Outflows	35,591	43,761	7,967	9,513	9,401	8,710	8,831	11,184	11,128	12,618	14,729
	Direct investment income	Inflows	3,284	3,496	912	667	582	1,123	736	1,020	993	747	847
		Outflows	1,533	1,152	-107	590	477	573	50	457	106	539	873
	Portfolio investment income	Inflows	14,545	15,164	3,503	3,666	3,716	3,660	3,650	3,948	3,716	3,850	4,190
		Outflows	30,958	39,422	7,307	8,137	8,164	7,350	8,036	10,023	10,110	11,253	12,651
	Other investment income	Inflows	4,875	7,497	1,260	1,211	1,211	1,193	1,253	1,300	2,175	2,769	3,212
		Outflows	3,099	3,187	767	786	760	786	745	704	912	826	1,206

Secondary Income		Inflows	1,926	1,902	365	409	570	582	431	604	596	271	418
		Outflows	1,686	1,823	305	349	510	522	379	552	544	348	373

Income balance		Net	-12,726	-17,601	-2,253	-3,927	-3,852	-2,694	-3,157	-4,881	-4,213	-5,350	-6,456

Current Account - Total		Inflows	90,722	102,777	20,646	21,921	22,987	25,168	23,084	26,197	26,520	26,976	26,399
		Outflows	87,569	109,568	18,795	22,424	22,749	23,601	23,472	27,243	28,626	30,227	30,621

Current Account Balance with UK		Net	3,154	-6,791	1,852	-504	239	1,567	-388	-1,046	-2,106	-3,251	-4,222
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.
²Under the credit item, passenger fate receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
³Covers exports and imports of sofware 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 2023 Table 3.1 (XLS 15KB)

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with the UK

Next chapter: Foreign Direct Investment

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with the UK¹												€ million
		2021	2022	2021				2022				2023
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1

Direct Investment	Abroad	3,985	-1,495	1,124	1,459	-1,021	2,423	-80	1,081	-2,617	121	960
	In Ireland	-1,997	-1,457	907	-351	-858	-1,695	-1,166	-2,197	714	1,192	2,627

Equity	Abroad	373	818	-291	1,073	-321	-88	2,096	-128	-848	-302	-64
	In Ireland	-12,013	*	-144	-433	-759	*	-907	-823	-317	220	18
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	2,158	1,700	755	524	-172	1,051	*	837	82	*	343
	In Ireland	-41	*	-146	535	-190	*	-578	267	-26	251	757
Other Capital	Abroad	1,453	-4,015	660	-138	-528	1,459	*	371	-1,851	*	682
	In Ireland	10,058	457	1,196	-452	91	9,223	319	-1,642	1,058	722	1,852
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 2023

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows a deficit of €4.2bn in Quarter 1 2023

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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