Balance of International Payments
The Balance of Payments current account, a measure of Ireland’s economic flows with the rest of the world, showed a surplus of €19.5bn in the second quarter of 2025, a decrease of €15.7bn compared with the Q2 2024 surplus of €35.2bn due to increases in the merchandise balance being offset by a reduction in the services balance and by increased outflows of investment income.
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| Current Account |
| Q1 2023 | 8.27825455276501 |
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| Q2 2023 | 8.5201609036962 |
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| Q3 2023 | 12.0696371112339 |
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| Q4 2023 | -0.966335725859607 |
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| Q1 2024 | 13.4756457375444 |
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| Q2 2024 | 26.0444613739888 |
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| Q3 2024 | 13.7311396287613 |
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| Q4 2024 | 12.0023685892062 |
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| Q1 2025 | 3.49396541737086 |
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| Q2 2025 | 12.2079330576273 |
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normal
| Merchandise | Services | Primary Income | Secondary Income | Balance on Current Account |
| Q1 2023 | 54.091 | 2.575 | -44.541 | -1.201 | 10.924 |
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| Q2 2023 | 36.888 | 8.983 | -33.674 | -1.143 | 11.054 |
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| Q3 2023 | 36.183 | 12.995 | -31.907 | -1.088 | 16.184 |
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| Q4 2023 | 29.524 | -5.964 | -23.578 | -1.227 | -1.246 |
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| Q1 2024 | 39.06 | 14.876 | -34.858 | -1.167 | 17.912 |
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| Q2 2024 | 38.578 | 26.524 | -28.731 | -1.161 | 35.211 |
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| Q3 2024 | 42.911 | 11.427 | -33.6 | -1.041 | 19.696 |
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| Q4 2024 | 55.004 | 6.863 | -42.496 | -1.219 | 18.152 |
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| Q1 2025 | 74.219 | -0.375 | -66.959 | -1.048 | 5.837 |
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| Q2 2025 | 58.431 | 12.44 | -50.128 | -1.249 | 19.494 |
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- Merchandise exports were €94,591m in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of €16,368m compared with the second quarter of 2024. Merchandise imports were €36,160m in second quarter of 2025, a decrease of €3,484m over the same period in 2024.
- Service exports at €123,140m decreased by €8,702m compared to the second quarter of 2024, mainly due to lower business services exports which decreased by €17,975m, offset by computer services exports which grew by €8,080.
- Service imports at €110,700m were up €5,382m over the same period in 2024, mainly due to higher royalty imports which increased by €4,993m.
- Ireland’s trade balance at €70,871m, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports increased by €16,935m in the second quarter of 2025 over the same period in 2024.
- Investment income earned abroad at €70,984m, decreased by €7,104m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to foreign investors at €138,294m increased by €14,279m. The overall income balance for the quarter at -€51,376m decreased by €21,484m compared with the same period in 2024.
normal
| Direct Investment | Portfolio Investment | Other Investment | Reserve Assets | Balance on Financial Account |
| Q1 2023 | 13.465 | -24.241 | 16.64 | 0.011 | 5.875 |
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| Q2 2023 | 8.726 | 86.983 | -90.067 | -0.024 | 5.616 |
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| Q3 2023 | -21.691 | 44.794 | -10.029 | -0.529 | 12.544 |
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| Q4 2023 | 13.168 | -8.961 | 1.241 | 0.107 | 5.555 |
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| Q1 2024 | 20.348 | 29.638 | -39.238 | -0.085 | 10.661 |
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| Q2 2024 | 47.519 | -5.109 | -1.509 | 0.007 | 40.907 |
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| Q3 2024 | -16.847 | 23.753 | 10.03 | -0.305 | 16.631 |
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| Q4 2024 | 11.109 | 14.697 | -0.964 | 0.245 | 25.087 |
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| Q1 2025 | -3.788 | 6.626 | 11.949 | 0.238 | 15.027 |
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| Q2 2025 | 38.802 | 42.133 | -60.351 | -0.291 | 20.293 |
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- Direct investment in Ireland decreased by €33,985m in the second quarter of 2025. This was due to a decrease in increased reinvested earnings of €38,195m and equity investment of €7,871m offset by other capital investment of €12,081m.
- Direct investment abroad increased by €4,817m in the quarter, due to decreased reinvested earnings of €5,376m offset by increased equity investment of €4,074m and other capital investment of €6,119m.
- Portfolio investment in foreign assets increased by €109,385m in the quarter due to increased investment in foreign equity and debt instruments (up €39,670m and €69,716m respectively). Portfolio investment in Ireland increased by €67,252m mainly due to an increase in equity investment of €56,568m as well as increased debt instruments of €10,684m.
- Other investment assets fell by €34,511m while other investment liabilities grew by €25,840m in the second quarter of 2025.
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 Account activity classified by Institutional Sector
Table 1.6 Current and Capital Accounts showing geographical detail
Table 1.7 Financial Account showing geographical detail
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