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International Investment Position

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Net IIP liability of €602 billion at end-September 2020

Table 5.1 International Investment Position€ billion
 30 June 202030 September 2020
 AssetsLiabilitiesNETAssetsLiabilitiesNET
General Government22.2167.4-145.122.2164.0-141.9
Monetary Authority79.720.059.680.120.559.6
Monetary Financial Institutions1,012.9934.878.2992.9918.574.4
Other Financial Intermediaries3,822.63,810.112.53,899.83,885.314.6
Non-Financial Companies911.31,550.2-638.9896.91,505.7-608.8
Total 5,848.86,482.5-633.75,891.96,494.0-602.1

At 30th September 2020, Ireland's quarterly international investment position (IIP) results show overall stocks of foreign financial assets of €5,892bn - an increase of €043bn on the end-June 2020 level, while the corresponding stocks of foreign financial liabilities increased by €011bn to €6,494bn over the quarter. Irish residents had an overall net foreign liability of €602bn at end-September 2020, a decrease of €32bn in the net foreign liability level at end-June 2020 - see Table 5.2.

X-axis labelNet IIP %GDP
Q42018-181
Q12019-172
Q22019-178
Q32019-175
Q42019-174
Q12020-176
Q22020-176
Q32020-164

Some points of note in the Quarter 3 2020 IIP are:

  • Direct Investment Abroad decreased by €14bn to €895bn.
  • Equity capital (including reinvested earnings) decreased €5.1bn while other capital decreased €8.4bn – see Table 3(a).
  • Foreign Assets of Other Financial Intermediaries increased by €77bn, with foreign liabilities increasing by €75bn, the resulting net increased to €15bn - see Table (1b).
  • Foreign Assets of the Monetary Authority increased by €0.4bn while foreign liabilities increased by €0.5bn.
    The resulting net decreased to €60bn - see Table (1b).
X-axis labelDirect InvestmentPortfolio InvestmentOther InvestmentReserve AssetsNet IIP
Q42018-70.5-428-96.84.6-590.8
Q12019-70.3-465.8-41.24.6-572.7
Q22019-87.4-501.4-194.7-603.1
Q32019-63.9-550.50.75-608.8
Q42019-59.1-550.6-14.15.1-618.8
Q12020-104.3-582.1425.3-639.2
Q22020-188-500.449.55.2-633.7
Q32020-113-554.259.45.7-602.1

Figure 2 shows the net IIP over time along with the contribution of each instrument type to it.

  • Net Portfolio Investment fell €54bn to -€554bn.
  • Net Other Investment rose €10bn to €59bn.
  • Reserve Assets grew €0.5bn to €5.7bn.
X-axis labelGeneral GovernmentMonetary Financial InstitutionsOther Financial IntermediariesNon-Financial Companies
31 Dec 20198625221166851
31 Mar 2020830437990759
30 Jun 20209244851153793
30 Sep 20209054721205814

For Portfolio Investment assets, equity and debt securities, the sector of the non-resident issuer is collected. Analysing this data shows that Irish residents hold debt as follows:

  • €905bn issued by foreign Governments
  • €472bn issued by foreign Monetary Financial Institutions (including Money Market Investment Funds)
  • €1205bn issued by foreign Other Financial Intermediaries (including Non-Money Market Investment Funds)
  • €814bn issued by foreign Non-Financial Companies
X-axis labelDirect InvestmentOther SectorsMonetary Financial InstitutionsMonetary AuthorityGeneral Government
Q42019636151426222147
Q12020628157028920155
Q22020554155427420167
Q32020508157426821164

Gross External Debt stands at €2.5 trillion at end-September 2020.

At 30th September 2020, the gross external debt of all resident sectors (i.e. general government, the monetary authority, financial and non-financial corporations and households) amounted to €2,534bn.
This represents a decrease of €35bn in the stock of financial liabilities to non-residents (other than those arising from issues of Irish equities and derivatives contracts) compared to the level shown at 30th June 2020 (€2,570bn) - see Table 6(a).

Points of note are:

  • General government foreign borrowing fell by €3bn to €164bn at end-September 2020.
  • Liabilities of the Monetary Authority consisting entirely of short term loans and deposits increased €0.5bn to €20.5bn. These liabilities are to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and include balances in the TARGET2 settlement system of the ESCB.
  • Debt liabilities of Monetary financial institutions (credit institutions and money market funds) fell €6.1bn to €268.1bn.
  • The liabilities of Other sectors at €1,574bn increased €19bn on the previous quarter.
  • This was made up of a rise in short-term debt of €1bn and a  rise in long-term debt of €18bn.
  • Direct investment liabilities decreased by €46bn to €508bn in the quarter.
  • The Net External Debt position was €1,369bn at end-September 2020, i.e. assets exceeded liabilities - see Table 6(b).

Gross external debt represents the stock of Ireland's liabilities to non-residents other than equity and financial derivatives.

Show Table: Table 5.2 International Investment Position (IIP) classified by Financial Instrument

Show Table: Table 5.3 International Investment Position (IIP) classified by Institutional Sector

Show Table: Table 5.4 International Investment Position (IIP) - IFSC and non-IFSC activity by Institutional Sector

Show Table: Table 5.5 International Investment Position (IIP) - Detailed Data

Show Table: Table 5.6 International Investment Position (IIP) - Detailed Data

Show Table: Table 5.7 International Investment Position (IIP) showing IFSC and non-IFSC activity

Show Table: Table 5.8 International Investment Position (IIP) - 30th June 2020 - Reconciliation of IIP and BOP Flows

Show Table: Table 5.9 Gross External Debt

Show Table: Table 5.10 - Debt Instrument Financial Assets


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