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International Accounts Q2 2020

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with UK shows surplus of €0.1bn in Quarter 2 2020

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q1 2018	-0.444	2.367	-2.42	-0.498
Q2 2018	-0.385	2.925	-4.168	-1.628
Q3 2018	-0.437	3.308	-3.545	-0.674
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

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €4,448m in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of €723m compared with the second quarter of 2019.
Merchandise imports were €5,674m in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of €233m compared with the second quarter of 2019.
Services exports at €7,787m decreased by €717m compared to the second quarter of 2019, mainly due to a reduction of transport, tourism and travel and business services exports.
Services imports at €4,357m were down €700m over that same period in 2019. These figures were due to decreased levels of business, tourism and travel and insurance costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,928m, decreased by €589m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €8,052m decreased by €2,951m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has decreased by €507m and net income outflows have decreased by €2,362m, compared with the second quarter of 2019. The result is a current account balance surplus of €88m in the second quarter of 2020, up from a deficit of €1,767m in the second quarter of 2019.

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 €2,804m in the second quarter of 2020. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €513m in the second quarter of 2020 mainly due to an increase in reinvesting earnings.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK									€ million
		2018	2019	2019				2020
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	22,435	21,276	5,140	5,171	5,261	5,704	4,986	4,448
	Imports	24,377	26,041	6,895	5,907	6,209	7,030	6,103	5,674

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	4,364	3,302	856	764	800	882	779	839

Services	Exports	30,330	34,896	7,798	8,504	8,972	9,622	8,271	7,787
	Imports	18,463	20,553	4,711	5,057	5,137	5,648	4,952	4,357
Transport	Exports	2,391	2,488	368	669	897	554	345	118
	Imports	565	590	155	137	140	158	144	128
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,029	1,027	209	264	316	238	179	10
	Imports	1,229	1,386	356	284	345	401	283	17
Insurance	Exports	2,460	1,980	487	474	489	530	552	486
	Imports	1,707	1,862	442	495	453	472	508	410
Financial services	Exports	5,737	6,745	1,653	1,602	1,666	1,824	1,475	1,655
	Imports	5,081	6,337	1,486	1,542	1,542	1,767	1,285	1,625
Royalties/Licences	Exports	371	460	95	94	109	162	77	80
	Imports	329	279	72	68	70	69	66	44
Computer services³	Exports	9,939	12,378	2,803	2,928	3,099	3,548	3,244	3,112
	Imports	201	176	36	42	47	51	21	35
Business services	Exports	4,663	5,114	1,225	1,261	1,236	1,392	1,288	1,038
	Imports	8,694	9,299	2,007	2,326	2,387	2,579	2,499	1,946
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	971	925	244	223	226	232	246	212
	Imports	162	157	*	*	*	38	*	*
Other	Exports	3,739	4,704	959	1,211	1,160	1,374	1,109	1,287
	Imports	654	623	156	161	153	153	145	153

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	52,765	56,173	12,939	13,675	14,233	15,326	13,257	12,235
	Imports	42,840	46,595	11,606	10,964	11,346	12,679	11,055	10,031

Trade balance	Net	9,925	9,579	1,333	2,711	2,887	2,648	2,202	2,204

Primary Income	Inflows	18,920	24,972	5,619	6,573	6,556	6,224	5,330	5,949
	Outflows	33,174	39,361	8,960	11,082	10,373	8,946	8,718	8,096
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	18,695	24,748	5,563	6,517	6,500	6,168	5,274	5,928
	Outflows	32,861	39,042	8,879	11,003	10,294	8,866	8,640	8,052
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,621	1,733	80	753	775	125	-61	1,065
	Outflows	4,022	3,949	706	1,435	1,081	727	414	616
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	12,010	15,296	3,695	3,868	3,895	3,838	3,905	3,497
	Outflows	25,507	31,726	7,278	8,857	8,315	7,276	7,295	6,648
Other investment income	Inflows	4,065	7,718	1,787	1,896	1,830	2,205	1,430	1,365
	Outflows	3,334	3,368	895	711	899	863	932	787

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,929	1,120	286	261	291	282	537	412
	Outflows	1,725	976	235	230	260	251	500	381

Income balance	Net	-14,050	-14,245	-3,290	-4,478	-3,786	-2,691	-3,351	-2,116

Current Account - Total	Inflows	73,614	82,264	18,843	20,509	21,080	21,832	19,124	18,596
	Outflows	77,739	86,930	20,800	22,276	21,979	21,875	20,273	18,508

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-4,126	-4,666	-1,957	-1,767	-899	-43	-1,150	88
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 Q2 2020 Table 3.1 (XLS 15KB)

Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

Next Chapter >> Foreign Direct Investment

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with UK¹									€ million
		2018	2019	2019				2020
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2

Direct Investment	Abroad	3,966	6,411	5,553	1,409	-1,539	988	-7	513
	In Ireland	-23,060	-9,824	4,022	3,815	-6,526	-11,135	1,857	2,804

Equity	Abroad	555	3,846	4,862	138	-1,907	753	675	-214
	In Ireland	-9,852	*	1,716	-1,437	541	*	1,032	-1,026
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	2,081	1,460	-34	732	683	79	-166	1,010
	In Ireland	2,145	2,588	303	1,174	836	275	-98	396
Other Capital	Abroad	1,330	1,105	725	539	-315	156	-516	-283
	In Ireland	-15,353	*	2,003	4,077	-7,903	*	924	3,434
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 Q2 2020

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows surplus of €0.1bn in Quarter 2 2020

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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