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International Accounts Q4 2020

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with UK shows surplus of €0.1bn in Quarter 4 2020

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
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
Q4 2020	-1.605	3.935	-2.184	0.146

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €6,003m in the fourth quarter of 2020, an increase of €299m compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.
Merchandise imports were €7,608m in the fourth quarter of 2020, an increase of €578m compared with the fourth quarter of 2019.
Services exports at €9,705m increased by €83m compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, mainly due to computer and financial exports.
Services imports at €5,770m were up €122m over that same period in 2019. These figures were affected by increased levels of financial and business costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €4,766m, decreased by €1,402m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €6,963m decreased by €1,903m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has decreased by €318m and net income outflows have decreased by €507m, compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. The result is a current account balance surplus of €146m in the fourth quarter of 2020, up from a deficit of €43m in the fourth 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 €1,024m in the fourth quarter of 2020. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €630m in the fourth quarter of 2020 mainly due to increases in other capital and equity.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK											€ million
		2019	2020	2019				2020
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	21,276	20,353	5,140	5,171	5,261	5,704	4,986	4,448	4,916	6,003
	Imports	26,041	25,237	6,895	5,907	6,209	7,030	6,103	5,674	5,852	7,608

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,302	3,259	856	764	800	882	779	839	675	966

Services	Exports	34,896	34,281	7,798	8,504	8,972	9,622	8,271	7,787	8,518	9,705
	Imports	20,553	19,450	4,711	5,057	5,137	5,648	4,952	4,357	4,371	5,770
Transport	Exports	2,488	919	368	669	897	554	345	118	312	144
	Imports	590	566	155	137	140	158	144	128	132	162
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,027	287	209	264	316	238	179	10	62	36
	Imports	1,386	525	356	284	345	401	283	17	110	115
Insurance	Exports	1,980	1,948	487	474	489	530	552	486	446	464
	Imports	1,862	1,619	442	495	453	472	508	410	343	358
Financial services	Exports	6,745	7,002	1,653	1,602	1,666	1,824	1,475	1,655	1,809	2,063
	Imports	6,337	6,499	1,486	1,542	1,542	1,767	1,285	1,625	1,462	2,127
Royalties/Licences	Exports	460	399	95	94	109	162	77	80	84	158
	Imports	279	199	72	68	70	69	66	44	43	46
Computer services³	Exports	12,378	14,363	2,803	2,928	3,099	3,548	3,244	3,112	3,549	4,458
	Imports	176	142	36	42	47	51	21	35	43	43
Business services	Exports	5,114	4,586	1,225	1,261	1,236	1,392	1,288	1,038	1,001	1,259
	Imports	9,299	9,253	2,007	2,326	2,387	2,579	2,499	1,946	2,072	2,736
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	925	838	244	223	226	232	246	212	190	190
	Imports	157	139	*	*	*	38	*	*	*	*
Other	Exports	4,704	4,774	959	1,211	1,160	1,374	1,109	1,287	1,255	1,123
	Imports	623	647	156	161	153	153	145	153	166	183

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	56,173	54,634	12,939	13,675	14,233	15,326	13,257	12,235	13,434	15,708
	Imports	46,595	44,687	11,606	10,964	11,346	12,679	11,055	10,031	10,223	13,378

Trade balance	Net	9,579	9,947	1,333	2,711	2,887	2,648	2,202	2,204	3,211	2,330

Primary Income	Inflows	24,972	21,395	5,619	6,573	6,556	6,224	5,330	5,949	5,328	4,788
	Outflows	39,361	31,132	8,960	11,082	10,373	8,946	8,718	8,096	7,315	7,003
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	24,748	21,275	5,563	6,517	6,500	6,168	5,274	5,928	5,307	4,766
	Outflows	39,042	30,924	8,879	11,003	10,294	8,866	8,640	8,052	7,269	6,963
Direct investment income	Inflows	1,733	1,991	80	753	775	125	-61	1,065	796	191
	Outflows	3,949	1,562	706	1,435	1,081	727	414	616	285	247
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	15,296	14,099	3,695	3,868	3,895	3,838	3,905	3,497	3,332	3,365
	Outflows	31,726	26,188	7,278	8,857	8,315	7,276	7,295	6,648	6,297	5,948
Other investment income	Inflows	7,718	5,185	1,787	1,896	1,830	2,205	1,430	1,365	1,179	1,211
	Outflows	3,368	3,174	895	711	899	863	932	787	687	768

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,120	1,828	286	261	291	282	537	412	454	425
	Outflows	976	1,698	235	230	260	251	500	381	423	394

Income balance	Net	-14,245	-9,607	-3,290	-4,478	-3,786	-2,691	-3,351	-2,116	-1,956	-2,184

Current Account - Total	Inflows	82,264	77,855	18,843	20,509	21,080	21,832	19,124	18,596	19,215	20,920
	Outflows	86,930	77,516	20,800	22,276	21,979	21,875	20,273	18,508	17,961	20,774

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-4,666	338	-1,957	-1,767	-899	-43	-1,150	88	1,254	146
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 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
		2019	2020	2019				2020
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Direct Investment	Abroad	6,411	1,206	5,553	1,409	-1,539	988	-7	513	70	630
	In Ireland	-9,824	6,549	4,022	3,815	-6,526	-11,135	1,857	2,804	864	1,024

Equity	Abroad	3,846	57	4,862	138	-1,907	753	675	-214	-485	81
	In Ireland	*	792	1,716	-1,437	541	*	1,032	-1,026	-46	832
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,460	1,607	-34	732	683	79	-166	1,010	740	23
	In Ireland	2,588	411	303	1,174	836	275	-98	396	220	-107
Other Capital	Abroad	1,105	-459	725	539	-315	156	-516	-283	-185	525
	In Ireland	*	5,347	2,003	4,077	-7,903	*	924	3,434	690	299
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 2020

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows surplus of €0.1bn in Quarter 4 2020

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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