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International Accounts Q4 2023

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €22bn in Quarter 4 2023

Online ISSN: 2565-6384

CSO statistical publication, 01 March 2024, 11am

Ireland’s trade balance at €22bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, fell by €26bn in the fourth quarter of 2023 over the same period in 2022, mainly due to a decrease in contract manufacturing exports.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q3 2021	71.836	41.141
Q4 2021	73.712	43.636
Q1 2022	78.365	52.203
Q2 2022	85.341	52.868
Q3 2022	94.971	53.698
Q4 2022	95.752	49.68
Q1 2023	88.977	50.868
Q2 2023	76.365	51.32
Q3 2023	71.871	47.956
Q4 2023	71.98	48.083

Merchandise exports were €72bn in the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of €23.8bn compared with the same quarter of 2022.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q3 2021	26.794	23.052
Q4 2021	32.369	29.261
Q1 2022	32.104	29.222
Q2 2022	37.404	35.813
Q3 2022	41.387	38.162
Q4 2022	41.251	35.621
Q1 2023	32.984	32.11
Q2 2023	37.885	34.074
Q3 2023	34.455	30.455
Q4 2023	42.2	35.462

Merchandise imports were €42.2bn in the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of €1bn compared with the same period in 2022.

	Q4 2023	Q4 2022
Computer Services	61.878	52.516
Business Services	17.071	16.656
Financial Services	5.768	5.289
Royalties/Licences	4.088	4.143
Insurance	3.889	3.784
Other Services n.e.s	3.86	4.927
Transport	2.134	1.785
Tourism and Travel	1.585	1.595
Repairs and Processing	0.803	0.754
Communications	0.037	0.039

Service exports, at €101bn, increased by €9.6bn compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly due to higher computer services exports (which increased by €9.4bn).

	Q4 2023	Q4 2022
Business Services	49.715	37.786
Royalties/Licences	40.515	41.424
Financial Services	4.981	4.865
Insurance	3.258	3.493
Repairs and Processing	3.256	3.601
Computer Services	2.672	2.523
Tourism and Travel	2.028	1.904
Transport	1.655	1.517
Other Services n.e.s	0.542	0.644
Communications	0.168	0.158

Service imports, at €108.8bn, were up €10.9bn compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly due to increased R&D related IP service imports.

	Royalties/Licences Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q3 2021	3.675	0.03	2.245
Q4 2021	5.097	0.058	3.243
Q1 2022	3.458	0.063	2.333
Q2 2022	3.494	0.069	1.905
Q3 2022	3.033	0.038	0
Q4 2022	4.143	0.056	0
Q1 2023	3.779	0.042	1.103
Q2 2023	3.068	0.085	1.193
Q3 2023	3.298	0.028	1.154
Q4 2023	4.088	0.11	0

	Royalties/Licences Imports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q3 2021	27.647	3.655	0
Q4 2021	36.366	6.856	0
Q1 2022	29.032	3.969	0
Q2 2022	32.601	7.859	0
Q3 2022	32.891	7.823	0
Q4 2022	41.424	11.288	0
Q1 2023	37.081	6.063	0
Q2 2023	30.468	6.685	0
Q3 2023	33.027	4.412	0
Q4 2023	40.515	7.851	0

Please note: The figures for royalties/licences imports of which information and communication are suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

Royalties/licences imports were €40.5bn in the fourth quarter of 2023, down €1bn on the same period in 2022.

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports												€ million
			2022	2023	2022				2023
Item			Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Services		Exports	339,622	367,685	78,462	83,185	86,488	91,487	83,194	90,727	92,652	101,112
		Imports	339,857	360,186	71,495	81,940	88,506	97,916	84,019	83,323	84,056	108,788
	Repairs and Processing	Exports	2,635	3,182	585	541	755	754	711	905	763	803
		Imports	11,165	11,239	2,302	2,560	2,702	3,601	3,213	2,341	2,429	3,256
	Transport	Exports	7,795	10,526	872	1,932	3,206	1,785	1,634	2,813	3,945	2,134
		Imports	6,066	5,491	1,302	1,514	1,733	1,517	1,218	1,353	1,265	1,655
	Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	6,686	7,046	736	1,884	2,471	1,595	1,283	2,266	1,912	1,585
		Imports	8,054	9,537	864	2,124	3,162	1,904	1,781	2,517	3,211	2,028
	Insurance	Exports	14,825	15,373	3,700	3,738	3,603	3,784	3,928	3,839	3,717	3,889
		Imports	14,172	13,993	3,602	3,551	3,526	3,493	3,536	3,722	3,477	3,258
	Financial services	Exports	21,836	22,261	5,606	5,424	5,517	5,289	5,244	5,538	5,711	5,768
		Imports	19,808	19,434	5,090	4,953	4,900	4,865	4,598	4,934	4,921	4,981
	Royalties/Licences	Exports	14,128	14,233	3,458	3,494	3,033	4,143	3,779	3,068	3,298	4,088
		Imports	135,948	141,091	29,032	32,601	32,891	41,424	37,081	30,468	33,027	40,515
	of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	226	265	63	69	38	56	42	85	28	110
		Imports	30,939	25,011	3,969	7,859	7,823	11,288	6,063	6,685	4,412	7,851
	Information and communication	Exports	7,339	*	2,333	1,905	*	*	1,103	1,193	1,154	*
		Imports	88,582	99,296	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
	Communications	Exports	158	150	40	41	38	39	38	40	35	37
		Imports	640	658	159	161	162	158	158	164	168	168
	Computer services²	Exports	195,719	218,780	45,520	48,871	48,812	52,516	49,636	52,623	54,643	61,878
		Imports	9,473	10,270	2,029	2,357	2,564	2,523	2,160	2,461	2,977	2,672
	Business services	Exports	63,786	63,180	15,610	14,404	17,116	16,656	13,761	16,167	16,181	17,071
		Imports	132,164	145,867	26,605	31,483	36,290	37,786	29,716	34,619	31,817	49,715
	Research and development	Exports	7,176	7,267	1,610	1,617	1,630	2,319	1,381	1,860	2,235	1,791
		Imports	45,133	52,594	8,115	10,327	13,033	13,658	7,946	9,833	9,761	25,054
	of which: IP related	Exports	1,764	1,393	555	*	*	513	8	*	590	*
		Imports	8,080	*	1,026	*	*	773	542	278	177	*
	Operational leasing	Exports	18,254	19,402	4,492	4,343	4,640	4,779	4,509	4,922	4,926	5,045
		Imports	1,695	1,365	388	404	445	458	383	326	332	324
	Misc. business services³	Exports	38,356	36,511	9,508	8,444	10,846	9,558	7,872	9,385	9,019	10,235
		Imports	85,336	91,910	18,102	20,752	22,812	23,670	21,387	24,461	21,725	24,337
	Other services n.e.s.	Exports	12,056	12,956	2,334	2,857	1,938	4,927	3,181	3,469	2,446	3,860
		Imports	2,365	2,609	510	636	575	644	559	743	765	542
¹Under the credit item, passenger fare receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
²Covers 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.
³Covers mainly advertising and inter-affiliate management charges.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q4 2023 Table 2.2 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports												€ 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	354,429	309,193	78,365	85,341	94,971	95,752	88,977	76,365	71,871	71,980
		Imports	152,146	147,524	32,104	37,404	41,387	41,251	32,984	37,885	34,455	42,200

	International trade	Exports	208,449	198,227	52,203	52,868	53,698	49,680	50,868	51,320	47,956	48,083
		Imports	138,818	132,101	29,222	35,813	38,162	35,621	32,110	34,074	30,455	35,462
	Goods for processing	Exports	131,975	98,365	18,450	32,280	37,397	43,848	35,008	20,349	18,737	24,271
		Imports	8,273	8,951	1,971	-98	1,492	4,908	-25	2,091	1,728	5,157
	Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-10,093	-13,764	-1,406	-2,227	-2,389	-4,071	-2,464	-695	-2,392	-8,213
		Imports	5,055	6,472	911	1,689	1,733	722	898	1,721	2,272	1,581
	Merchanting (net export)	Exports	24,099	26,366	9,119	2,421	6,264	6,295	5,565	5,390	7,571	7,840
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q4 2023

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €22bn in Quarter 4 2023

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