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Balance of International Payments

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Current account balance of €11.7bn in Quarter 2 2020

Table 1.1 Balance of International Payments€ million
 Merchandise BalanceServices and Income BalanceCurrent Account BalanceCurrent Account Balance as % of GDP
Q2 201928,100-60,702-32,602-38.4
Q2 202033,374-21,71211,66314.1
 
Q1-Q2 201958,324-81,773-23,449-13.8
Q1-Q2 202067,783-70,677-2,894-1.7

The Balance of Payments current account, a measure of Ireland’s economic flows with the rest of the world, showed a surplus of €11.7bn in the second quarter of 2020. Quarter on quarter we see reduced merchandise trade, while reduced imports of intellectual property as well as lower profit outflows have put the account in surplus.

Current Account
Q1 201814.0150354374873
Q2 201813.8390941460721
Q3 201812.9536795807672
Q4 2018-15.8463385447228
Q1 201910.7772509840293
Q2 2019-38.3864861688368
Q3 201912.452669962882
Q4 2019-30.7250927111529
Q1 2020-15.8970788054359
Q2 202014.085938453988
MerchandiseServicesPrimary IncomeSecondary IncomeBalance on Current Account
Q1 201828.4120.608-16.866-0.99111.163
Q2 201828.044-0.017-16.155-1.07610.795
Q3 201827.2581.279-16.675-0.84611.016
Q4 201825.418-18.214-19.753-0.808-13.357
Q1 201930.224-0.079-19.668-1.3249.153
Q2 201928.1-38.931-21.111-0.66-32.602
Q3 201931.6040.996-20.096-0.89511.609
Q4 201929.197-37.317-19.751-0.693-28.564
Q1 202034.409-28.156-19.728-1.081-14.557
Q2 202033.374-0.788-19.916-1.00811.663

Other points of note in the Quarter 2 2020 results are:

Current account (see Table 1.3)

  • Merchandise exports were €55,997m in the second quarter of 2020, an increase of €1,553m compared with the second quarter of 2019. Merchandise imports were €22,622m in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of €3,722m over the same period in 2019.
  • Service exports at €51,737m decreased by €3,031m compared to the second quarter of 2019, mainly due to lower Transport and Tourism & Travel services exports (which decreased by €1,890m and €1,453m respectively).
  • Service imports at €52,525m were down €41,174m over the same period in 2020 due to decreased R&D related intellectual property imports.
  • Ireland’s trade balance at €32,586m, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, increased by €43,417m in the second quarter of 2020 over the same period in 2019.
  • Investment income earned abroad at €22,136m, decreased by €5,481m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to foreign investors at €42,100m decreased by €6,739m. The overall income balance for the quarter at -€20,924m increased by €847m compared with the same period in 2019.
Direct InvestmentPortfolio InvestmentOther InvestmentReserve AssetsBalance on Financial Account
Q1 201816.7419.365-33.684-0.0222.399
Q2 201811.434-16.04119.7840.00515.181
Q3 201815.2068.493-15.7380.2098.17
Q4 2018-21.60525.783-62.6690.578-57.913
Q1 20196.12110.265-5.0960.00211.291
Q2 2019-56.32-9.9369.380.121-56.754
Q3 2019-5.398-6.61716.6850.1254.795
Q4 2019-31.7135.461-29.5740.181-25.641
Q1 2020-14.702-83.13773.5620.138-24.138
Q2 2020-67.34882.309-17.0060.019-2.027

Financial account (see Tables 1.4 and 1.5)

  • Direct investment in Ireland increased by €64,428m in the second quarter of 2020. This was due to equity investment of €59,092m and reinvested earnings of €17,049m which were offset by a decrease in other capital of €11,712m. Direct investment abroad decreased by €2,920m in the quarter, mainly due to decreased other capital investment abroad of €6,536m.
  • Portfolio investment in foreign assets increased by €168,713m in the quarter. Investment in foreign equity increased by €23,252m while investment in foreign debt instruments increased by €145,461m. Portfolio investment in Ireland increased by €86,405m, mainly due to increased purchase of Irish equity of €58,837m and Irish debt of €27,567m.
  • Other investment assets and liabilities decreased by €57,388m and €40,381m respectively in the second quarter of 2020 due to a significant decrease in both IFSC enterprise assets and liabilities.
Table 1.2 Summary of Current, Capital and Financial Account Balances

Table 1.3 Current and Capital Accounts

Table 1.4 Financial Account

Table 1.5 Current, Capital and Financial Accounts showing IFSC and non-IFSC activity

Table 1.6 Current and Capital Accounts showing geographical detail

Table 1.7 Financial Account showing geographical detail


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