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International Accounts Q2 2019

Goods and Services

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Trade balance of -€5.3bn in Q2 2019

Ireland’s trade balance at -€5.3bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, decreased by €33.1bn in the second quarter of 2019, over the same period in 2018 due to increased research and development (R&D) related intellectual property (IP) imports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2017	47.901	32.172
Q2 2017	47.323	31.066
Q3 2017	48.977	28.974
Q4 2017	53.623	30.535
Q1 2018	51.39	33.837
Q2 2018	53.698	35.564
Q3 2018	53.773	34.09
Q4 2018	57.446	37.135
Q1 2019	57.145	38.018
Q2 2019	54.971	38.562

Merchandise exports were €55bn in the second quarter of 2019, an increase of €1.3bn compared with the second quarter of 2018.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2017	22.714	20.389
Q2 2017	22.777	21.086
Q3 2017	20.314	18.005
Q4 2017	22.9	21.03
Q1 2018	22.331	19.49
Q2 2018	24.894	21.245
Q3 2018	25.553	22.304
Q4 2018	30.568	25.572
Q1 2019	24.994	19.803
Q2 2019	26.814	21.313

Merchandise imports were €26.8bn in the second quarter of 2019, an increase of €1.9bn compared with the same period in 2018.

	Q2 2019	Q2 2018
Computer Services	27.173	20.295
Business Services	11.158	8.799
Financial Services	3.896	3.819
Royalties/Licences	2.56	3.299
Insurance	2.457	2.433
Transport	2.134	2.112
Tourism and Travel	1.536	1.5
Other Services n.e.s	1.176	0.877
Repairs and Processing	0.498	0.463
Communications	0.088	0.107

Service exports, at €52.7bn, increased by €9bn compared to the second quarter of 2018, mainly due to higher computer services exports.

	Q2 2019	Q2 2018
Business Services	54.769	16.725
Royalties/Licences	20.591	17.94
Financial Services	3.344	3.202
Insurance	2.045	2.027
Tourism and Travel	1.831	1.566
Repairs and Processing	1.305	1.093
Computer Services	1.083	1.09
Transport	0.811	0.733
Other Services n.e.s	0.186	0.171
Communications	0.126	0.139

Service imports, at €86.1bn, were up €41.4bn over the same period in 2018. This significant increase was predominantly affected by elevated R&D related intellectual property imports.

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2017	1.544	0.046	0.177
Q2 2017	1.736	0	0
Q3 2017	2.948	0.258	0
Q4 2017	2.872	0	1.069
Q1 2018	2.54	0.032	1.111
Q2 2018	3.299	0.016	1.407
Q3 2018	3.025	0.018	1.01
Q4 2018	2.913	0.018	0.607
Q1 2019	2.04	0.017	0.355
Q2 2019	2.56	0.014	0.468

Please note: In Q2 2017 and Q4 2017, the figures for royalties/licences of which pharmaceutical have been suppressed due to confidentiality requirements, and in addition in Q2 2017 and Q3 2017 the figures for royalties/licences of which information and communication have been suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2017	16.759	5.198	7.788
Q2 2017	16.743	5.3	8.215
Q3 2017	15.291	4.227	7.652
Q4 2017	17.869	4.163	10.05
Q1 2018	16.458	3.545	8.858
Q2 2018	17.94	4.152	9.768
Q3 2018	18.076	3.656	10.234
Q4 2018	19.706	4.016	11.748
Q1 2019	18.798	3.877	11.105
Q2 2019	20.591	5.195	11.671

Royalties/licences imports were €20.6bn in the second quarter of 2019, an increase of €2.7bn compared with the same period in 2018.

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports									€ million
		2017	2018	2018				2019
Item				Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Services	Exports	161,831	180,077	39,696	43,701	46,004	50,676	46,484	52,678
	Imports	205,323	185,647	39,847	44,687	45,476	55,637	47,708	86,090
Repairs and Processing	Exports	1,994	1,899	439	463	430	567	488	498
	Imports	4,765	5,452	976	1,093	1,281	2,102	1,561	1,305
Transport	Exports	8,088	7,746	1,238	2,112	2,832	1,564	1,150	2,134
	Imports	2,599	3,109	681	733	753	942	767	811
Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	4,972	5,237	817	1,500	1,847	1,073	774	1,536
	Imports	5,814	6,270	1,195	1,566	2,091	1,418	1,403	1,831
Insurance	Exports	9,747	9,664	2,547	2,433	2,307	2,377	2,531	2,457
	Imports	6,967	8,040	2,139	2,027	1,926	1,948	2,211	2,045
Financial services	Exports	15,544	15,354	3,921	3,819	3,805	3,809	3,845	3,896
	Imports	12,923	12,851	3,286	3,202	3,166	3,197	3,452	3,344
Royalties/Licences	Exports	9,100	11,777	2,540	3,299	3,025	2,913	2,040	2,560
	Imports	66,662	72,180	16,458	17,940	18,076	19,706	18,798	20,591
of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	603	84	32	16	18	18	17	14
	Imports	18,888	15,369	3,545	4,152	3,656	4,016	3,877	5,195
Information and communication	Exports	2,472	4,135	1,111	1,407	1,010	607	355	468
	Imports	33,705	40,608	8,858	9,768	10,234	11,748	11,105	11,671
Communications	Exports	657	415	112	107	103	93	88	88
	Imports	693	570	139	139	144	148	140	126
Computer services²	Exports	68,080	86,222	18,723	20,295	21,357	25,847	24,463	27,173
	Imports	3,232	4,331	809	1,090	1,088	1,344	1,091	1,083
Business services	Exports	39,553	38,025	8,490	8,799	9,305	11,431	10,802	11,158
	Imports	101,024	72,155	13,993	16,725	16,779	24,658	18,103	54,769
Research and development	Exports	6,729	2,988	607	588	573	1,220	787	637
	Imports	55,157	22,901	3,569	4,391	4,875	10,066	4,370	*
of which: IP related	Exports	4,508	692	82	*	35	*	185	18
	Imports	41,477	5,353	124	*	143	*	146	*
Operational leasing	Exports	13,542	12,910	3,015	3,111	3,312	3,472	3,380	3,535
	Imports	915	728	168	171	197	192	274	270
Misc. business services³	Exports	19,282	22,126	4,868	5,100	5,420	6,738	6,635	6,986
	Imports	44,952	48,526	10,256	12,163	11,707	14,400	13,458	*
Other services n.e.s.	Exports	4,096	3,741	869	877	993	1,002	303	1,176
	Imports	639	687	169	171	172	175	181	186
¹Under the credit item, passenger fare receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
²Covers 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.
³Covers mainly advertising and inter-affiliate management charges.

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports									€ million
		2017	2018	2018				2019
Item				Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Merchandise¹	Exports	197,824	216,307	51,390	53,698	53,773	57,446	57,145	54,971
	Imports	88,705	103,346	22,331	24,894	25,553	30,568	24,994	26,814

International trade	Exports	122,747	140,626	33,837	35,564	34,090	37,135	38,018	38,562
	Imports	80,510	88,611	19,490	21,245	22,304	25,572	19,803	21,313
Goods for processing	Exports	64,962	68,196	15,979	15,884	17,932	18,401	17,500	14,622
	Imports	4,744	11,514	2,300	2,831	2,322	4,061	4,308	4,317
Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	358	-1,002	-375	333	-200	-760	-1	-387
	Imports	3,452	3,222	541	818	928	935	882	1,184
Merchanting (net export)	Exports	9,759	8,488	1,950	1,916	1,952	2,670	1,628	2,174
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q2 2019

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of -€5.3bn in Q2 2019

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