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International Accounts Q4 2018

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows deficit of €1.9bn in Quarter 4 2018

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q1 2016	0.881	1.758	-2.848	-0.209
Q2 2016	0.245	2.351	-3.545	-0.949
Q3 2016	0.44	2.722	-3.702	-0.54
Q4 2016	1.052	2.438	-2.414	1.076
Q1 2017	0.706	2.137	-2.076	0.767
Q2 2017	0.382	2.78	-3.039	0.124
Q3 2017	-0.091	2.915	-2.826	-0.002
Q4 2017	-0.536	1.959	-1.888	-0.465
Q1 2018	-0.27	1.772	-2.279	-0.778
Q2 2018	-0.278	2.289	-4.058	-2.047
Q3 2018	-0.172	2.694	-3.388	-0.865
Q4 2018	-0.539	2.663	-3.99	-1.865

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €6,178m in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of €442m compared with the fourth quarter of 2017.
Merchandise imports were €6,717m in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of €445m compared with the fourth quarter of 2017.
Services exports at €7,465m increased by €725m compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, mainly due to both computer and business services exports.
Services imports at €4,802m were up €21m over that same period in 2017. These figures were affected by increased levels of financial, tourism and travel and transport costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €4,169m, decreased by €228m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €7,995m increased by €1,856m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €700m and net income outflows have increased by €2,102m, compared with the fourth quarter of 2017. The result is a current account deficit of €1,865m in the fourth quarter of 2018, down from the deficit of €465m in the fourth quarter of 2017.

We have also included a new experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); this table shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has decreased by €15,121m in the fourth quarter of 2018 due to the withdrawal of investment. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €1,324m in the fourth quarter of 2018 mainly due to increases in reinvested earnings and other capital.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

3.1 Current Account with UK											€ million
		2017	2018	2017				2018
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	23,464	22,536	6,007	6,213	5,508	5,736	5,315	5,348	5,695	6,178
	Imports	23,003	23,795	5,301	5,831	5,599	6,272	5,585	5,626	5,867	6,717

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,853	4,515	1,039	868	926	1,020	1,081	1,121	1,058	1,255

Services	Exports	26,266	27,728	5,973	6,632	6,921	6,740	6,148	6,790	7,325	7,465
	Imports	16,475	18,310	3,836	3,852	4,006	4,781	4,376	4,501	4,631	4,802
Transport	Exports	2,349	2,391	369	631	866	483	392	640	872	487
	Imports	531	554	128	132	127	144	134	133	135	152
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,032	1,032	204	273	310	245	236	269	299	228
	Imports	1,266	1,382	303	281	334	348	351	309	345	377
Insurance	Exports	2,507	2,497	649	613	599	646	640	600	588	669
	Imports	1,613	1,713	407	392	382	432	411	426	449	427
Financial services	Exports	5,595	5,583	1,364	1,304	1,452	1,475	1,453	1,403	1,372	1,355
	Imports	4,355	4,732	1,071	1,027	1,127	1,130	1,184	1,201	1,186	1,161
Royalties/Licences	Exports	1,088	1,071	263	260	261	304	259	252	233	327
	Imports	463	292	131	104	122	106	76	72	75	69
Computer services³	Exports	6,327	8,146	1,443	1,564	1,579	1,741	1,541	1,808	2,229	2,568
	Imports	277	286	56	74	71	76	80	63	68	75
Business services	Exports	4,212	4,428	1,001	1,175	987	1,049	923	1,162	1,119	1,224
	Imports	6,954	8,338	1,492	1,593	1,577	2,292	1,875	2,045	2,127	2,291
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	711	685	173	189	168	181	153	185	169	178
	Imports	28	30	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	7
Other	Exports	3,156	2,582	680	813	866	797	704	656	614	608
	Imports	1,015	1,010	249	248	265	253	265	250	246	249

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	49,730	50,264	11,980	12,845	12,429	12,476	11,463	12,138	13,020	13,643
	Imports	39,478	42,105	9,137	9,683	9,606	11,053	9,961	10,127	10,497	11,519

Trade balance	Net	10,252	8,159	2,843	3,162	2,823	1,423	1,502	2,011	2,523	2,123

Primary Income	Inflows	16,686	18,626	4,025	4,125	4,083	4,453	4,360	5,005	5,037	4,224
	Outflows	26,086	31,837	6,022	7,045	6,794	6,225	6,521	8,938	8,300	8,078
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	16,461	18,402	3,969	4,070	4,025	4,397	4,304	4,950	4,979	4,169
	Outflows	25,749	31,504	5,937	6,961	6,712	6,139	6,438	8,854	8,217	7,995
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,216	2,869	581	397	449	789	618	759	765	727
	Outflows	2,846	3,554	811	459	854	722	638	1,085	969	862
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	10,658	11,721	2,566	2,790	2,635	2,667	2,727	3,089	3,034	2,871
	Outflows	20,668	24,508	4,610	5,946	5,266	4,846	5,197	6,965	6,263	6,083
Other investment income	Inflows	3,586	3,812	822	882	941	941	960	1,102	1,180	570
	Outflows	2,232	3,443	516	555	591	570	604	804	985	1,050

Secondary Income	Inflows	2,037	1,763	542	523	556	416	530	488	390	355
	Outflows	2,466	2,267	621	642	671	532	648	613	515	491

Income balance	Net	-9,829	-13,715	-2,076	-3,039	-2,826	-1,888	-2,279	-4,058	-3,388	-3,990

Current Account - Total	Inflows	68,453	70,653	16,547	17,493	17,068	17,345	16,353	17,631	18,447	18,222
	Outflows	68,028	76,207	15,780	17,369	17,070	17,809	17,130	19,678	19,312	20,087

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	424	-5,555	767	124	-2	-465	-778	-2,047	-865	-1,865
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 Q4 2018 Table 3.1 (XLS 20KB)

Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

Next Chapter >> Foreign Direct Investment

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3.2 Foreign Direct investment with UK¹											€ million
		2017	2018	2017				2018
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Direct Investment	Abroad	1,836	1,688	24	662	-522	1,672	-2,557	1,881	1,040	1,324
	In Ireland	2,993	-20,336	-2,718	1,293	-3,434	7,852	-4,431	37	-821	-15,121

Equity	Abroad	713	91	-353	272	-178	972	-1,863	1,353	459	142
	In Ireland	1,247	-8,163	-593	-92	324	1,608	*	-680	-550	*
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,828	2,300	501	265	345	717	590	336	708	666
	In Ireland	1,121	2,154	78	72	641	330	346	726	539	543
Other Capital	Abroad	-704	-703	-124	126	-689	-17	-1,284	192	-127	516
	In Ireland	623	-14,326	-2,204	1,312	-4,399	5,914	*	-9	-809	*
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 Q4 2018

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows deficit of €1.9bn in Quarter 4 2018

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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