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International Accounts Q3 2021

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with UK shows surplus of €0.8bn in Quarter 3 2021

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q2 2019	-0.498	3.368	-4.424	-1.554
Q3 2019	-0.856	3.755	-3.662	-0.763
Q4 2019	-1.056	3.918	-2.52	0.342
Q1 2020	-0.656	3.419	-3.162	-0.399
Q2 2020	-0.751	3.432	-2.462	0.219
Q3 2020	-0.566	4.149	-2.038	1.546
Q4 2020	-1.654	3.867	-1.724	0.49
Q1 2021	1.305	3.576	-1.483	3.398
Q2 2021	0.085	4.177	-2.993	1.267
Q3 2021	0.071	3.963	-3.235	0.8

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €6,644m in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of €1,638m compared with the third quarter of 2020.
Merchandise imports were €6,573m in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of €1,001m compared with the third quarter of 2020.
Services exports at €9,930m increased by €1,198m compared to the third quarter of 2020, mainly due to computer and financial exports.
Services imports at €5,967m were up €1,384m over that same period in 2020. These figures were affected by increased levels of business and financial costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,319m, decreased by €112m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €8,591m increased by €1,099m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €451m and net income outflows have increased by €1,197m, compared with the third quarter of 2020. The result is a current account balance surplus of €800m in the third quarter of 2021, down from a current account balance of €1,546m in the third quarter of 2020.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has decreased by €832m in the third quarter of 2021. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has decreased by €1,049m in the third quarter of 2021 mainly due to decreases in other capital and equity.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK										€ million
		2019	2020	2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	21,376	20,158	4,951	4,216	5,006	5,985	5,494	6,074	6,644
	Imports	25,269	23,785	5,607	4,967	5,572	7,639	4,189	5,989	6,573

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,359	3,430	866	834	788	942	944	802	990

Services	Exports	35,346	35,119	8,433	8,026	8,732	9,928	8,922	9,751	9,930
	Imports	21,296	20,252	5,014	4,594	4,583	6,061	5,346	5,574	5,967
Transport	Exports	2,488	911	345	117	305	144	94	135	437
	Imports	678	648	164	130	151	203	133	176	176
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,056	286	179	29	34	44	12	16	36
	Imports	1,403	528	283	29	91	125	46	65	110
Insurance	Exports	1,950	1,944	545	487	447	465	553	635	557
	Imports	1,898	1,674	522	424	358	370	516	429	406
Financial services	Exports	6,746	6,992	1,472	1,651	1,806	2,063	1,910	2,037	2,002
	Imports	6,337	6,518	1,291	1,630	1,465	2,132	1,786	1,946	2,015
Royalties/Licences	Exports	466	396	85	78	89	144	93	102	127
	Imports	299	316	90	68	67	91	72	72	89
Computer services³	Exports	12,325	14,661	3,293	3,195	3,632	4,541	4,053	4,205	4,210
	Imports	230	240	46	59	67	68	53	81	111
Business services	Exports	5,118	4,633	1,254	1,053	1,046	1,280	1,046	1,178	1,226
	Imports	9,409	9,310	2,368	2,032	2,128	2,782	2,503	2,546	2,732
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	905	826	229	213	186	198	204	204	199
	Imports	148	145	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Other	Exports	5,198	5,296	1,258	1,416	1,374	1,248	1,161	1,442	1,335
	Imports	1,039	1,013	250	221	253	289	238	258	328

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	56,724	55,278	13,384	12,242	13,738	15,914	14,416	15,824	16,574
	Imports	46,566	44,037	10,621	9,561	10,155	13,700	9,535	11,563	12,540

Trade balance	Net	10,157	11,242	2,763	2,681	3,584	2,214	4,881	4,261	4,035

Primary Income	Inflows	25,530	22,120	5,633	5,757	5,453	5,277	5,816	5,640	5,340
	Outflows	39,497	31,705	8,849	8,268	7,539	7,049	7,356	8,691	8,632
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	25,306	22,000	5,577	5,736	5,431	5,256	5,795	5,618	5,319
	Outflows	39,178	31,494	8,770	8,223	7,492	7,009	7,314	8,652	8,591
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,396	2,794	201	938	939	716	1,266	886	590
	Outflows	3,970	1,918	528	580	482	328	18	656	408
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	15,174	13,982	3,932	3,426	3,303	3,321	3,382	3,555	3,579
	Outflows	31,873	26,444	7,340	6,865	6,322	5,917	6,526	7,233	7,428
Other investment income	Inflows	7,737	5,225	1,444	1,373	1,189	1,219	1,146	1,177	1,150
	Outflows	3,336	3,132	903	778	687	764	770	763	755

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,224	1,688	503	377	418	390	306	350	505
	Outflows	1,005	1,489	449	328	370	342	249	292	448

Income balance	Net	-13,748	-9,386	-3,162	-2,462	-2,038	-1,724	-1,483	-2,993	-3,235

Current Account - Total	Inflows	83,478	79,087	19,520	18,376	19,610	21,581	20,538	21,814	22,420
	Outflows	87,067	77,229	19,919	18,156	18,063	21,091	17,140	20,547	21,619

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-3,590	1,856	-399	219	1,546	490	3,398	1,267	800
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 2021 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
		2019	2020	2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3

Direct Investment	Abroad	6,477	-1,706	-1,642	-586	-767	1,289	1,565	762	-1,049
	In Ireland	-10,576	2,441	1,023	1,534	-136	20	1,192	416	-832

Equity	Abroad	3,500	8,432	*	-1,127	*	389	-186	167	-195
	In Ireland	*	-3,768	-10	-2,466	-1,099	-193	93	336	-284
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,552	2,086	38	785	807	456	1,123	769	-132
	In Ireland	2,173	22	-203	156	240	-171	-180	458	-399
Other Capital	Abroad	1,428	-12,224	*	-244	*	444	628	-173	-722
	In Ireland	*	6,185	1,236	3,843	723	383	1,279	-378	-150
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 Q3 2021

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows surplus of €0.8bn in Quarter 3 2021

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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