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International Accounts Q1 2026

Accounts with the UK and US

Accounts with the UK and the US

Current Account Balances with UK and US both show deficits for Quarter 1 2026

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical release, 04 June 2026, 11am

Current account with UK shows a deficit of €1.1bn in Quarter 1 2026

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q4 2023	-2.397	5.013	-7.219	-4.514
Q1 2024	-0.932	3.596	-7.615	-4.962
Q2 2024	-1.406	4.113	-8.887	-6.181
Q3 2024	-1.557	5.856	-9.181	-4.881
Q4 2024	-1.957	5.163	-9.637	-6.431
Q1 2024	-1.874	4.484	-8.061	-5.45
Q2 2025	-1.335	5.041	-11.438	-7.732
Q3 2025	-1.45586	5.3238	-8.34721	-4.47928
Q4 2025	-0.4653	6.56337	-8.73487	-2.63678
Q1 2026	0.995719999999999	5.30297	-7.4045	-1.10581

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €8,570m in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of €2,560m compared with the first quarter of 2025.
Merchandise imports were €7,574m in the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of €310m compared with the same period in 2025.
Services exports at €14,207m increased by €1,611m compared to the first quarter of 2025, mainly due to business services and computer services exports.
Services imports at €8,904m were up €792m over that same period in 2025, these figures were affected by increased levels of business services imports.
Investment income earned in UK at €12,387m, increased by €591m compared with one year earlier and investment income payable to UK investors at €19,810m decreased by €15m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €3,688m and net income outflows have decreased by €657m, compared with the first quarter of 2025. The result is a deficit of €1,106m in the first quarter of 2026, compared to a deficit of €5,450m in the same period in 2025.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has decreased by €3,476m in the first quarter of 2026 mainly due to a decrease in other capital investment in Ireland from the UK. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €5,997m in the first quarter of 2026.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK												€ million
		2024	2025	2024				2025				2026
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	26,088	26,108	7,132	6,262	6,225	6,469	6,010	6,261	6,286	7,551	8,570
	Imports	31,940	31,238	8,064	7,668	7,782	8,426	7,884	7,596	7,742	8,016	7,574

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	2,142	3,570	680	610	718	734	735	659	744	1,432	1,803

Services	Exports	52,733	57,525	11,852	12,561	14,036	14,284	12,596	13,980	14,931	16,018	14,207
	Imports	34,015	36,112	8,266	8,448	8,180	9,121	8,112	8,939	9,607	9,455	8,904
Transport	Exports	3,883	3,555	676	973	1,407	827	607	1,196	897	854	604
	Imports	1,015	1,001	254	242	247	272	259	243	239	259	245
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,176	1,125	190	317	395	274	178	284	361	302	231
	Imports	2,411	2,749	443	705	630	633	668	677	920	485	593
Insurance	Exports	3,051	3,353	682	781	770	818	776	971	807	799	781
	Imports	2,190	2,512	498	530	471	691	489	653	590	781	504
Financial services	Exports	8,160	9,181	2,096	1,982	1,991	2,091	1,953	2,250	2,507	2,471	1,983
	Imports	10,179	10,851	2,684	2,536	2,358	2,601	2,344	2,806	2,846	2,855	2,386
Royalties/Licences	Exports	645	459	120	104	194	227	-72	82	188	261	273
	Imports	306	395	36	96	83	91	49	100	142	105	52
Computer services³	Exports	24,029	26,161	5,573	5,646	5,981	6,829	6,031	5,992	6,754	7,384	7,276
	Imports	1,128	1,416	271	284	323	250	282	398	395	341	377
Business services	Exports	7,164	8,288	1,540	1,651	1,926	2,047	1,872	2,177	1,931	2,308	2,252
	Imports	15,802	16,728	3,859	3,803	3,797	4,343	3,889	3,983	4,454	4,402	4,620
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	926	901	221	233	231	241	226	231	220	224	231
	Imports	0	135	..	..	..	..	34	34	34	34	34
Other	Exports	4,625	5,403	974	1,107	1,372	1,172	1,252	1,027	1,486	1,638	808
	Imports	984	460	222	251	271	240	133	79	22	226	127

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	78,821	83,633	18,984	18,823	20,261	20,753	18,606	20,241	21,217	23,568	22,777
	Imports	65,954	67,350	16,330	16,116	15,961	17,547	15,995	16,535	17,349	17,470	16,478

Trade balance	Net	12,866	16,283	2,654	2,707	4,300	3,205	2,611	3,706	3,868	6,098	6,299

Primary Income	Inflows	46,464	44,271	11,265	13,068	11,537	10,594	11,865	10,231	11,606	10,569	12,468
	Outflows	81,942	81,027	18,921	21,994	20,757	20,270	19,964	21,710	20,002	19,351	19,999
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	46,184	43,991	11,198	12,996	11,464	10,526	11,796	10,162	11,537	10,496	12,387
	Outflows	81,430	80,470	18,826	21,878	20,599	20,127	19,825	21,574	19,865	19,206	19,810
Direct investment income	Inflows	4,481	5,375	1,240	1,978	914	349	2,023	517	1,773	1,062	3,039
	Outflows	5,404	6,575	1,046	1,205	1,310	1,843	1,237	1,662	1,958	1,718	1,507
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	23,422	22,468	5,385	6,248	5,969	5,820	5,806	5,714	5,462	5,486	5,762
	Outflows	68,485	65,714	15,908	18,724	17,507	16,346	16,611	17,921	15,661	15,521	16,570
Other investment income	Inflows	18,282	16,148	4,573	4,770	4,582	4,357	3,967	3,931	4,302	3,948	3,586
	Outflows	7,540	8,181	1,872	1,948	1,782	1,938	1,977	1,991	2,246	1,967	1,733

Secondary Income	Inflows	2,360	2,120	565	555	473	767	547	556	543	474	540
	Outflows	2,202	1,946	524	516	434	728	509	515	494	428	414

Income balance	Net	-35,320	-36,581	-7,615	-8,887	-9,181	-9,637	-8,061	-11,438	-8,347	-8,735	-7,405

Current Account - Total	Inflows	127,645	130,024	30,814	32,445	32,272	32,114	31,018	31,028	33,366	34,612	35,785
	Outflows	150,100	150,322	35,776	38,627	37,152	38,545	36,468	38,760	37,845	37,249	36,891

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-22,455	-20,298	-4,962	-6,181	-4,881	-6,431	-5,450	-7,732	-4,479	-2,637	-1,106
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.
.. Data suppressed for confidentiality reasons.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q1 2026 Table 3.1 (XLS 17KB)

Visit Table BPQ35 on PxStat

Visit Table BPQ36 on PxStat

Visit Table BPQ37 on PxStat

Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

Current account with US shows deficit of €64.0bn in Quarter 1 2026

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q1 2024	13.6	-31.5	-16.2	-34.1
Q2 2024	15.3	-38.1	-10.5	-33.3
Q3 2024	18.6	-40.2	-11.5	-33.1
Q4 2024	18.5	-46.1	-26.9	-54.5
Q1 2025	50.6	-52.5	-23	-24.8
Q2 2025	27.4	-43.4	-18.7	-34.8
Q3 2025	30.9	-49.7	-20.5	-39.3
Q4 2025	17.2	-54.8	-32.8	-70.4
Q1 2026	7.9	-51.1	-20.8	-64

Current account with US (See Table 3.3)

Merchandise exports were €13,789m in the first quarter of 2026 a decrease of €39,852m compared with the first quarter of 2025.
Merchandise imports were €5,914m in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of €2,915m compared with the first quarter of 2025.
Services exports at €13,583m decreased by €864m compared to the first quarter of 2025.
Services imports at €64,654m were down €2,264m over that same period in 2025.
Investment income earned in the US at €23,739m, increased by €3,199m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to US investors at €44,626m increased by €1,019m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the US has decreased by €41,368m and net income outflows have decreased by €2,189m, compared with the first quarter of 2025. The result is a current account balance deficit of €64,010m in the first quarter of 2026, up from a deficit of €24,831m in the first quarter of 2025.

These tables showing the Current Account with the US annually and quarterly follow on from our note on Ireland’s Current Account with the US.

Table 3.3 Current Account with US - Annual

Table 3.3 Current Account with US - Annual											€ million
Item		2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	47,072	43,001	51,906	63,899	66,269	53,052	65,570	61,043	81,397	138,802
	Imports	16,262	14,943	16,844	19,199	14,878	11,692	12,383	11,076	15,353	12,696
Net Merchandise		30,810	28,058	35,062	44,700	51,391	41,360	53,187	49,967	66,044	126,106

of which: International Trade	Exports	31,898	33,284	39,347	47,281	50,661	52,700	63,286	54,089	73,286	111,693
	Imports	12,212	14,398	15,334	14,412	11,475	14,897	18,831	20,582	20,481	20,481
of which: Goods for Processing	Exports	14,021	11,489	11,140	14,112	9,669	5,878	789	2,230	2,904	6,616
	Imports	1,055	518	1,538	4,697	-1,951	-4,355	-6,608	-9,776	-5,421	-8,075

Services	Exports	17,997	19,851	26,420	37,578	42,795	47,094	47,558	55,759	61,939	57,162
	Imports	51,716	48,645	49,985	58,252	110,973	144,473	174,675	187,857	217,833	257,610
Net Services		-33,719	-28,794	-23,565	-20,674	-68,178	-97,379	-127,117	-132,098	-155,894	-200,448


Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	65,069	62,852	78,326	101,477	109,064	100,146	113,128	116,802	143,336	195,964
	Imports	67,978	63,588	66,829	77,451	125,851	156,165	187,058	198,933	233,186	270,307

Trade balance	Net	-2,909	-736	11,497	24,026	-16,787	-56,019	-73,930	-82,131	-89,850	-74,342

Primary Income	Inflows	19,249	21,794	23,879	29,838	27,737	36,295	45,946	75,306	88,181	86,851
	Outflows	16,934	28,138	29,154	34,017	29,371	94,758	136,401	138,109	153,497	182,061
Net Primary Income		2,315	-6,344	-5,275	-4,179	-1,634	-58,463	-90,455	-62,803	-65,316	-95,210

of which: Investment Income	Inflows	19,193	21,736	23,820	29,781	27,710	36,279	45,901	75,261	88,139	86,823
	Outflows	16,917	28,117	29,140	34,006	29,360	94,747	136,385	138,089	153,475	182,037
Direct investment income	Inflows	3,295	2,270	909	2,078	4,194	6,392	6,493	9,768	9,297	10,725
	Outflows	3,511	10,803	11,517	11,784	11,075	75,711	111,640	100,543	109,280	141,039
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	13,027	16,398	18,760	21,685	20,002	25,030	31,782	42,417	51,698	52,560
	Outflows	10,465	13,675	14,349	17,427	14,895	14,287	19,381	28,434	27,892	22,981
Other investment income	Inflows	2,871	3,068	4,151	6,018	3,514	4,857	7,626	23,076	27,144	23,538
	Outflows	2,941	3,639	3,274	4,795	3,390	4,749	5,364	9,112	16,303	18,016

Secondary Income	Inflows	464	582	526	565	687	347	1,078	974	942	1,381
	Outflows	391	448	397	416	545	138	873	770	704	1,149

Income balance	Net	2,388	-6,210	-5,146	-4,030	-1,492	-58,254	-90,250	-62,599	-65,078	-94,978

Current Account - Total	Inflows	84,782	85,228	102,731	131,880	137,488	136,788	160,152	193,082	232,459	284,196
	Outflows	85,303	92,174	96,380	111,884	155,767	251,061	324,332	337,812	387,387	453,516

Current Account Balance with US	Net	-521	-6,946	6,351	19,996	-18,279	-114,273	-164,180	-144,730	-154,928	-169,319
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q1 2026 Table 3.3 (XLS 13KB)

Table 3.4 Current Account with US - Quarterly

Table 3.4 Current Account with US - Quarterly												€ million
		2024	2025	2024				2025				2026
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	81,397	138,802	16,594	20,302	23,457	21,044	53,641	30,369	35,276	19,516	13,789
	Imports	15,354	12,696	2,948	5,000	4,853	2,553	2,999	3,016	4,342	2,339	5,914
Net Merchandise		66,043	126,106	13,646	15,302	18,604	18,491	50,642	27,353	30,934	17,177	7,874

of which: International Trade	Exports	73,286	111,693	15,790	17,936	18,925	20,635	50,187	24,926	24,800	11,780	12,018
	Imports	20,480	20,481	4,382	5,526	6,164	4,408	5,434	4,181	5,642	5,224	5,324
of which: Goods for Processing	Exports	2,904	6,616	200	1,616	1,707	-619	702	2,319	1,935	1,660	1,568
	Imports	-5,422	-8,075	-1,502	-621	-1,412	-1,887	-2,500	-1,263	-1,397	-2,915	537

Services	Exports	61,939	57,162	16,130	14,825	14,098	16,886	14,447	14,418	12,842	15,455	13,583
	Imports	217,832	257,610	47,645	52,914	54,305	62,968	66,918	57,848	62,589	70,256	64,654
Net Services		-155,893	-200,448	-31,515	-38,089	-40,207	-46,082	-52,471	-43,430	-49,747	-54,800	-51,071


Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	143,336	195,964	32,724	35,127	37,555	37,930	68,088	44,787	48,118	34,971	27,372
	Imports	233,186	270,307	50,593	57,914	59,158	65,521	69,917	60,864	66,931	72,595	70,568

Trade balance	Net	-89,850	-74,342	-17,869	-22,787	-21,603	-27,591	-1,829	-16,077	-18,813	-37,624	-43,197

Primary Income	Inflows	88,181	86,851	20,090	25,998	21,658	20,435	20,547	23,263	21,738	21,303	23,753
	Outflows	153,497	182,061	36,338	36,593	33,188	47,378	43,612	42,020	42,274	54,155	44,636
Net Primary Income		-65,316	-95,210	-16,248	-10,595	-11,530	-26,943	-23,065	-18,757	-20,536	-32,851	-20,883

of which: Investment Income	Inflows	88,139	86,823	20,078	25,987	21,646	20,428	20,540	23,256	21,730	21,296	23,739
	Outflows	153,475	182,037	36,333	36,587	33,182	47,373	43,607	42,016	42,269	54,145	44,626
Direct investment income	Inflows	9,298	10,725	2,536	2,683	2,202	1,877	1,707	2,564	3,495	2,960	4,060
	Outflows	109,280	141,039	26,249	23,507	22,606	36,918	33,072	31,488	32,457	44,022	33,212
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	51,698	52,560	11,504	14,681	13,049	12,464	12,955	14,928	12,432	12,245	13,142
	Outflows	27,893	22,981	7,750	8,164	5,921	6,058	6,069	6,278	5,284	5,350	6,571
Other investment income	Inflows	27,143	23,538	6,038	8,623	6,395	6,087	5,878	5,764	5,804	6,092	6,537
	Outflows	16,302	18,016	2,334	4,916	4,655	4,397	4,466	4,250	4,528	4,772	4,843

Secondary Income	Inflows	943	1,381	270	336	225	112	324	338	345	374	312
	Outflows	704	1,149	210	276	166	52	261	283	291	314	242

Income balance	Net	-65,077	-94,978	-16,188	-10,535	-11,471	-26,883	-23,002	-18,702	-20,482	-32,791	-20,813

Current Account - Total	Inflows	232,460	284,196	53,084	61,461	59,438	58,477	88,959	68,388	70,201	56,649	51,436
	Outflows	387,387	453,516	87,141	94,783	92,512	112,951	113,790	103,167	109,495	127,064	115,446

Current Account Balance with US	Net	-154,927	-169,319	-34,057	-33,322	-33,074	-54,474	-24,831	-34,779	-39,294	-70,415	-64,010
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q1 2026 Table 3.4 (XLS 15KB)

Net IIP vis-à-vis the US rises to €1.4 trillion in Q1 2026

X-axis label	Direct Investment	Portfolio Investment	Other Investment	Reserve Assets	Net IIP
Q12024	-226	822	90	3	689
Q22024	-233	937	107	3	815
Q32024	-188	1005	107	3	927
Q42024	-242	1132	91	3	983
Q12025	-224	1103	105	3	986
Q22025	-23	1146	82	3	1208
Q32025	-83	1333	112	3	1365
Q42025	-119	1298	88	3	1270
Q12026	-83	1264	208	3	1391

Net IIP vis-à-vis the US (See Table 3.5)

At the end of Q1 2026, Ireland's net international investment position vis-à-vis the United States stood at €1,391 bn, up from €1,270bn in Q4 2025. The quarter-on-quarter increase in NIIP vis-à-vis the US was mainly driven by a 9% increase in the stock of foreign financial assets, and an 8% increase in foreign financial liabilities. The movements in the stock of foreign financial assets and liabilities were mainly driven by transactions and other changes in volume.

Table 3.5 IIP vis-à-vis the US – Quarterly

Next chapter: Foreign Direct Investment

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK¹
		2024	2025	2024				2025				2026
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1

Direct Investment	Abroad	2,115	1,493	-1,011	3,549	287	-710	6	1,251	-364	600	5,997
	In Ireland	-267	2,566	-449	-749	250	681	-1,714	1,237	-828	3,871	-3,476

Equity	Abroad	1,783	623	-437	1,626	118	476	-558	524	-54	711	3,137
	In Ireland	978	-670	77	249	45	607	-406	724	-479	-509	-328
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,612	1,950	962	1,638	-269	-719	1,096	-1,007	1,081	780	2,885
	In Ireland	2,289	3,588	529	-412	690	1,482	958	106	1,177	1,348	585
Other Capital	Abroad	-1,280	-1,078	-1,535	285	438	-468	-532	1,733	-1,391	-888	-25
	In Ireland	-3,534	-353	-1,055	-586	-485	-1,408	-2,266	406	-1,525	3,033	-3,733
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'.

Table 3.5 International Investment Position (IIP) vis-à-vis the United States classified by Functional Category - Quarterly									€ million
Item	Q12024	Q22024	Q32024	Q42024	Q12025	Q22025	Q32025	Q42025	Q12026
Foreign Assets
Direct Investment Abroad¹	156,915	144,583	153,763	146,329	134,866	309,391	256,993	266,234	324,092
Portfolio Investment	1,882,059	1,980,411	2,056,411	2,296,416	2,204,876	2,203,956	2,377,341	2,430,397	2,457,033
Other Investment²	533,223	592,820	576,522	612,393	693,842	653,600	657,612	726,755	939,218
Reserve Assets	2,800	2,932	2,630	3,010	2,905	2,745	2,602	2,836	2,733
Total Foreign Assets	2,574,996	2,720,747	2,789,327	3,058,148	3,036,488	3,169,693	3,294,548	3,426,222	3,723,076

Foreign Liabilities
Direct Investment in Ireland¹	382,846	377,120	341,297	388,426	359,273	332,365	339,520	384,973	407,536
Portfolio Investment	1,060,163	1,043,247	1,051,551	1,164,605	1,101,600	1,057,568	1,044,446	1,132,277	1,193,342
Other Investment²	443,260	485,867	469,884	521,638	589,256	571,929	545,647	638,520	731,597
Total Foreign Liabilities	1,886,270	1,906,234	1,862,732	2,074,668	2,050,129	1,961,863	1,929,613	2,155,770	2,332,476

Net International Investment Position (IIP)
Direct Investment¹	-225,932	-232,536	-187,534	-242,097	-224,407	-22,974	-82,527	-118,740	-83,444
Portfolio Investment	821,896	937,164	1,004,860	1,131,811	1,103,276	1,146,388	1,332,895	1,298,120	1,263,691
Other Investment²	89,963	106,953	106,638	90,755	104,585	81,671	111,965	88,235	207,621
Reserve Assets	2,800	2,932	2,630	3,010	2,905	2,745	2,602	2,836	2,733

Total (Net IIP)	688,726	814,514	926,595	983,480	986,359	1,207,830	1,364,935	1,270,452	1,390,600
¹Reflecting the directional principle for reclassifying Direct Investment (see Background Notes).
²Includes financial derivatives and trade credits; in the case of liabilities this category also includes life insurance liabilities to non-residents.