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International Accounts Q3 2020

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with UK shows surplus of €1.3bn in Quarter 3 2020

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
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
Q3 2020	-0.936	4.147	-1.956	1.254

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €4,916m in the third quarter of 2020, a decrease of €345m compared with the third quarter of 2019.

Merchandise imports were €5,852m in the third quarter of 2020, a decrease of €357m compared with the third quarter of 2019.
Services exports at €8,518m decreased by €454m compared to the third quarter of 2019, mainly due to a reduction of transport, tourism and travel and business services exports.
Services imports at €4,371m were down €766m over that same period in 2019 mainly due to decreased levels of business, tourism and travel and insurance costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,307m, decreased by €1,193m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €7,269m decreased by €3,025m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €324m and net income outflows have decreased by €1,830m, compared with the third quarter of 2019. The result is a current account balance surplus of €1,254m in the third quarter of 2020, up from a deficit of €899m in the third quarter of 2019.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has increased by €864m in the third quarter of 2020. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €70m in the third 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	Quarter 3
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	22,435	21,276	5,140	5,171	5,261	5,704	4,986	4,448	4,916
	Imports	24,377	26,041	6,895	5,907	6,209	7,030	6,103	5,674	5,852

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	4,364	3,302	856	764	800	882	779	839	675

Services	Exports	30,330	34,896	7,798	8,504	8,972	9,622	8,271	7,787	8,518
	Imports	18,463	20,553	4,711	5,057	5,137	5,648	4,952	4,357	4,371
Transport	Exports	2,391	2,488	368	669	897	554	345	118	312
	Imports	565	590	155	137	140	158	144	128	132
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,029	1,027	209	264	316	238	179	10	62
	Imports	1,229	1,386	356	284	345	401	283	17	110
Insurance	Exports	2,460	1,980	487	474	489	530	552	486	446
	Imports	1,707	1,862	442	495	453	472	508	410	343
Financial services	Exports	5,737	6,745	1,653	1,602	1,666	1,824	1,475	1,655	1,809
	Imports	5,081	6,337	1,486	1,542	1,542	1,767	1,285	1,625	1,462
Royalties/Licences	Exports	371	460	95	94	109	162	77	80	84
	Imports	329	279	72	68	70	69	66	44	43
Computer services³	Exports	9,939	12,378	2,803	2,928	3,099	3,548	3,244	3,112	3,549
	Imports	201	176	36	42	47	51	21	35	43
Business services	Exports	4,663	5,114	1,225	1,261	1,236	1,392	1,288	1,038	1,001
	Imports	8,694	9,299	2,007	2,326	2,387	2,579	2,499	1,946	2,072
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	971	925	244	223	226	232	246	212	190
	Imports	162	157	*	*	*	38	*	*	*
Other	Exports	3,739	4,704	959	1,211	1,160	1,374	1,109	1,287	1,255
	Imports	654	623	156	161	153	153	145	153	166

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	52,765	56,173	12,939	13,675	14,233	15,326	13,257	12,235	13,434
	Imports	42,840	46,595	11,606	10,964	11,346	12,679	11,055	10,031	10,223

Trade balance	Net	9,925	9,579	1,333	2,711	2,887	2,648	2,202	2,204	3,211

Primary Income	Inflows	18,920	24,972	5,619	6,573	6,556	6,224	5,330	5,949	5,328
	Outflows	33,174	39,361	8,960	11,082	10,373	8,946	8,718	8,096	7,315
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	18,695	24,748	5,563	6,517	6,500	6,168	5,274	5,928	5,307
	Outflows	32,861	39,042	8,879	11,003	10,294	8,866	8,640	8,052	7,269
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,621	1,733	80	753	775	125	-61	1,065	796
	Outflows	4,022	3,949	706	1,435	1,081	727	414	616	285
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	12,010	15,296	3,695	3,868	3,895	3,838	3,905	3,497	3,332
	Outflows	25,507	31,726	7,278	8,857	8,315	7,276	7,295	6,648	6,297
Other investment income	Inflows	4,065	7,718	1,787	1,896	1,830	2,205	1,430	1,365	1,179
	Outflows	3,334	3,368	895	711	899	863	932	787	687

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,929	1,120	286	261	291	282	537	412	454
	Outflows	1,725	976	235	230	260	251	500	381	423

Income balance	Net	-14,050	-14,245	-3,290	-4,478	-3,786	-2,691	-3,351	-2,116	-1,956

Current Account - Total	Inflows	73,614	82,264	18,843	20,509	21,080	21,832	19,124	18,596	19,215
	Outflows	77,739	86,930	20,800	22,276	21,979	21,875	20,273	18,508	17,961

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-4,126	-4,666	-1,957	-1,767	-899	-43	-1,150	88	1,254
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 Q3 2020 Table 3.1 (XLS 15KB)

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

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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	Quarter 3

Direct Investment	Abroad	3,966	6,411	5,553	1,409	-1,539	988	-7	513	70
	In Ireland	-23,060	-9,824	4,022	3,815	-6,526	-11,135	1,857	2,804	864

Equity	Abroad	555	3,846	4,862	138	-1,907	753	675	-214	-485
	In Ireland	-9,852	*	1,716	-1,437	541	*	1,032	-1,026	-46
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	2,081	1,460	-34	732	683	79	-166	1,010	740
	In Ireland	2,145	2,588	303	1,174	836	275	-98	396	220
Other Capital	Abroad	1,330	1,105	725	539	-315	156	-516	-283	-185
	In Ireland	-15,353	*	2,003	4,077	-7,903	*	924	3,434	690
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'.

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International Accounts Q3 2020

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows surplus of €1.3bn in Quarter 3 2020

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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