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International Accounts Q4 2023

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows a deficit of €6bn in Quarter 4 2023

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical release, 01 March 2024, 11am

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q3 2021	0.17	3.646	-4.629	-0.813
Q4 2021	-1.083	5.053	-3.452	0.52
Q1 2022	-1.508	3.352	-4.025	-2.18
Q2 2022	-1.573	4.289	-5.268	-2.552
Q3 2022	-5.748	4.053	-4.13	-5.824
Q4 2022	-2.36	4.176	-6.056	-4.24
Q1 2023	-1.48	3.65	-6.484	-4.315
Q2 2023	-1.275	3.962	-6.631	-3.945
Q3 2023	-1.85	4.411	-7.569	-5.006
Q4 2023	-2.273	4.627	-8.088	-5.735

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €6,491m in the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of €1,347m compared with the fourth quarter of 2022.
Merchandise imports were €8,764m in the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of €1,434m compared with the same period in 2022.
Services exports at €12,260m increased by €932m compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly due to both computer and financial services exports.
Services imports at €7,633m were up €481m over that same period in 2022, these figures were affected by increased levels of business and financial services costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €9,924m, increased by €2,598m compared with one year earlier and investment income payable to UK investors at €17,909m increased by €4,507m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €538m and net income outflows have increased by €2,032m, compared with the fourth quarter of 2022. The result is a deficit of €5,735m in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to -€4,240m over the same period in 2022.

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 €161m in the fourth quarter of 2023 mainly due to a decrease in other capital. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €1,473m in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Table 3.1 Current Account with the UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with the UK												€ million
			2022	2023	2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account
Merchandise¹		Exports	30,330	28,670	6,928	7,965	7,599	7,838	7,473	7,731	6,975	6,491
		Imports	41,519	35,548	8,436	9,538	13,347	10,198	8,953	9,006	8,825	8,764

	of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	4,029	3,315	1,067	934	1,017	1,011	907	809	835	764

Services		Exports	43,552	45,294	9,738	10,937	11,549	11,328	10,202	11,130	11,702	12,260
		Imports	27,682	28,644	6,386	6,648	7,496	7,152	6,552	7,168	7,291	7,633
	Transport	Exports	2,901	3,777	344	716	1,174	667	595	1,005	1,404	773
		Imports	1,183	1,060	241	254	397	291	269	269	245	277
	Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,130	1,185	120	300	418	292	259	367	326	233
		Imports	1,579	1,930	268	381	478	452	487	441	514	488
	Insurance	Exports	2,759	2,933	682	717	672	688	680	730	691	832
		Imports	1,996	2,191	459	456	570	511	506	586	572	527
	Financial services	Exports	7,069	6,891	1,863	1,776	1,877	1,553	1,642	1,754	1,760	1,735
		Imports	8,049	7,986	2,083	2,021	2,055	1,890	1,856	2,084	1,999	2,047
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	557	562	115	119	109	214	85	120	147	210
		Imports	473	704	116	121	118	118	117	145	307	135
	Computer services³	Exports	18,459	19,070	4,306	4,627	4,552	4,974	4,447	4,408	4,804	5,411
		Imports	279	184	47	68	75	89	40	49	51	44
	Business services	Exports	7,061	6,359	1,424	1,737	1,980	1,920	1,526	1,657	1,501	1,675
		Imports	12,977	13,616	2,889	3,051	3,539	3,498	3,054	3,331	3,328	3,903
	(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	821	924	207	198	206	210	211	237	236	240
		Imports	129	128	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Other	Exports	3,617	4,517	885	945	767	1,020	968	1,088	1,070	1,391
		Imports	1,146	971	282	297	265	302	223	262	274	212

Merchandise and Services Total		Exports	73,881	73,964	16,666	18,901	19,148	19,166	17,675	18,861	18,678	18,750
		Imports	69,201	64,192	14,822	16,186	20,843	17,350	15,505	16,174	16,116	16,397

Trade balance		Net	4,680	9,771	1,845	2,715	-1,695	1,815	2,169	2,687	2,562	2,353

Primary Income		Inflows	26,102	37,976	5,339	6,559	6,844	7,360	8,280	10,379	9,359	9,958
		Outflows	45,779	66,753	9,416	11,879	11,026	13,458	14,809	17,030	16,945	17,969
	(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	25,972	37,840	5,309	6,527	6,810	7,326	8,246	10,345	9,325	9,924
		Outflows	45,567	66,527	9,367	11,828	10,970	13,402	14,754	16,975	16,889	17,909
	Direct investment income	Inflows	3,522	4,965	577	1,462	991	492	847	1,986	823	1,309
		Outflows	1,221	4,825	103	638	-47	527	873	742	1,461	1,749
	Portfolio investment income	Inflows	15,281	18,034	3,600	3,962	3,730	3,989	4,181	4,493	4,582	4,778
		Outflows	41,194	56,074	8,529	10,488	10,156	12,021	12,675	14,904	14,062	14,433
	Other investment income	Inflows	7,170	14,843	1,132	1,104	2,089	2,845	3,218	3,866	3,921	3,838
		Outflows	3,151	5,628	735	702	861	853	1,206	1,329	1,366	1,727

Secondary Income		Inflows	1,763	1,805	371	544	533	315	418	469	487	431
		Outflows	1,565	1,800	319	492	481	273	373	449	470	508

Income balance		Net	-19,479	-28,772	-4,025	-5,268	-4,130	-6,056	-6,484	-6,631	-7,569	-8,088

Current Account - Total		Inflows	101,748	113,744	22,376	26,005	26,526	26,841	26,372	29,709	28,524	29,139
		Outflows	116,544	132,745	24,556	28,557	32,350	31,081	30,687	33,654	33,530	34,874

Current Account Balance with UK		Net	-14,796	-19,001	-2,180	-2,552	-5,824	-4,240	-4,315	-3,945	-5,006	-5,735
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.
²Under the credit item, passenger fate receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
³Covers exports and imports of sofware 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 2023 Table 3.1 (XLS 15KB)

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with the UK

Next chapter: Foreign Direct Investment

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with the UK¹											€ million
		2022	2023	2022				2023
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Direct Investment	Abroad	-2,202	3,984	2,704	1,633	-5,173	-1,366	2,138	1,905	-1,532	1,473
	In Ireland	1,018	4,232	83	-1,524	963	1,496	2,629	1,107	657	-161

Equity	Abroad	1,951	1,204	6,649	287	-3,290	-1,695	1,113	12	-183	262
	In Ireland	*	-282	-166	-202	-689	203	18	-733	-239	672
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,861	2,332	303	1,297	140	121	343	1,524	-442	907
	In Ireland	*	3,453	-129	409	-290	201	757	457	599	1,640
Other Capital	Abroad	-6,013	449	-4,248	50	-2,023	208	682	369	-907	305
	In Ireland	1,684	1,063	378	-1,730	1,942	1,094	1,854	1,384	298	-2,473
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 Q4 2023

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows a deficit of €6bn in Quarter 4 2023

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

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