You are here: Home / Statistics / Balance of International Payments Q4 2014

PDF - Summary (KB)

PDF - Full (KB)

Extra information

PxStat interactive tables:

Balance of Payments Quarterly Series Balance of Payments Annual Series

Methodology Previous Releases

International comparison:

Eurostat

No link available

For more information on this release:

E-mail: bop@cso.ie Christopher Sibley (+353) 1 498 4305 Annette Hayes (+353) 1 498 4319

For general information on CSO statistics:

information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5201

CSO statistical release, 12 March 2015, 11am

Balance of International Payments

Quarter 4 and Year 2014

				€ million
	Merchandise Balance	Invisibles Balance	Current Account Balance	Current Account Balance as % of GDP
Q4 2014	11,212	-7,494	3,718	7.7
Q4 2013	7,635	-4,795	2,839	6.3
Q1-Q4 2014	45,896	-34,427	11,467	6.2
Q1-Q4 2013	36,182	-28,548	7,633	4.4

Current account surplus of €3.7bn in 4th Quarter

Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Figure 1

go to full release

The Balance of Payments current account surplus in the fourth quarter of 2014 was €3,718m. The current account surplus for 2014 was €11,467m, an increase of €3,834m on 2013. The annual services surplus decreased by €6,364m while the merchandise surplus increased €9,714m and income outflows were €485m lower than 2013 (see Table 1).

X-axis label	Merchandise	Services	Primary Income
Q1 2013	8.671	-0.352	-6.786
Q2 2013	10.293	-0.232	-8.095
Q3 2013	9.583	0.52	-6.929
Q4 2013	7.635	0.242	-4.454
Q1 2014	10.146	-1.166	-7.284
Q2 2014	12.179	-1.006	-7.696
Q3 2014	12.359	-0.839	-7.266
Q4 2014	11.212	-3.175	-3.744

Other points of note in the Quarter 4 2014 results are:

Current account (see Table 2a)

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2013, merchandise exports at €27,984m increased by €5,952m while merchandise imports at €16,772m increased by €2,375m.
Service exports at €26,947m increased by €1,991m compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, mainly due to higher computer services exports. Service imports at €30,122m were up €5,408m, driven by increases in royalties/licences payments of €3,732m.
Investment income earned abroad at €16,088m, increased by €2,654m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to foreign investors at €20,852m increased by €1,867m.

Financial account (see Tables 2b and 3)

Direct investment in Ireland decreased by €69m in the fourth quarter of 2014. An increase of €2,740m in reinvested earnings and an increase in equity of €691m in Ireland were offset by a decrease in other capital of €3,500m. Direct investment abroad increased by €4,218m in the quarter with an increase of €7,679m in other capital.
Portfolio investment in foreign assets increased €30,302m in the quarter. Investment in foreign equity increased €19,203m while investment in foreign debt instruments increased €11,099m. Investment of €21,755m in Irish equity was partly offset by a decrease of €107m in debt instruments in the quarter.
Other investment assets increased by €31,564m in the fourth quarter of 2014 mainly due to the activities of IFSC enterprises with an increase of €30,292m while non-IFSC enterprises increased by €1,272m. The corresponding liabilities increased by €40,675m in the quarter.

Show Table 1 Summary of Current, Capital, Financial Account Balances and Net Errors and Omissions

Table 1 Summary of Current, Capital and Financial Account Balances														€ million
Period							Balance on Current Account	Balance on Capital Account	Direct Investment	Portfolio Investment	Other² Investment	Reserve Assets	Balance on Financial Account	Net errors and omissions
		Merchandise¹	Invisibles
			Services	Primary Income	Secondary Income	Total
1998	Year	17,510	-8,426	-9,776	1,319	-16,883	627	840	-4,422	8,466	-7,459	2,280	-1,135	-2,602
1999	Year	22,170	-9,723	-13,398	1,177	-21,944	226	560	-11,359	14,342	974	-1,746	2,211	1,425
2000	Year	27,266	-13,312	-15,327	994	-27,645	-379	1,182	-22,957	5,358	9,037	142	-8,420	-9,223
2001	Year	30,494	-12,412	-18,340	-497	-31,249	-755	779	-6,241	25,158	-19,039	441	319	295
2002	Year	35,442	-13,242	-22,806	-720	-36,768	-1,326	588	-19,444	37,979	-19,263	-343	-1,071	-333
2003	Year	32,604	-10,590	-21,450	-890	-32,930	-326	445	-15,270	39,977	-21,567	-1,770	1,370	1,251
2004	Year	33,903	-11,906	-21,973	-967	-34,846	-942	355	23,095	-14,287	-11,430	-1,177	-3,799	-3,212
2005	Year	32,236	-12,391	-24,270	-1,384	-38,045	-5,809	340	36,992	-52,698	17,665	-1,472	487	5,956
2006	Year	30,332	-11,300	-23,813	-1,746	-36,859	-6,526	299	16,634	-8,135	-13,182	-87	-4,770	1,457
2007	Year	28,627	-9,043	-27,910	-2,210	-39,163	-10,535	115	-2,602	7,283	-16,744	12	-12,051	-1,631
2008	Year	31,179	-14,875	-24,664	-2,328	-41,867	-10,689	119	24,167	45,749	-86,128	78	-16,134	-5,564
2009	Year	39,864	-15,049	-27,154	-2,785	-44,988	-5,125	14	649	-22,626	23,116	-79	1,060	6,171
2010	Year	42,877	-14,091	-25,334	-2,507	-41,932	945	91	-15,446	-85,965	94,140	-5	-7,276	-8,312
2011	Year	43,321	-8,634	-30,844	-2,466	-41,945	1,377	234	-17,775	-26,908	34,937	-329	-10,075	-11,686
2012	Year	42,405	-6,978	-30,309	-2,417	-39,704	2,702	86	-23,288	4,080	19,101	-12	-120	-2,907
2013	Year	36,182	178	-26,264	-2,462	-28,548	7,633	100	-9,835	46,301	-25,374	10	11,103	3,370
2014	Year	45,896	-6,186	-25,990	-2,251	-34,427	11,467	135	18,163	4,238	-11,113	136	11,423	-180

2008	Quarter 1	6,303	-3,361	-6,291	-773	-10,425	-4,123	42	3,191	-8,182	-3,140	-74	-8,205	-4,124
	Quarter 2	7,699	-3,258	-6,603	-531	-10,392	-2,693	66	3,077	5,541	-18,414	46	-9,749	-7,122
	Quarter 3	7,696	-3,137	-7,219	-462	-10,818	-3,121	0	9,276	12,083	-21,835	39	-437	2,684
	Quarter 4	9,481	-5,119	-4,551	-562	-10,232	-752	11	8,623	36,307	-42,739	67	2,259	3,000
2009	Quarter 1	9,688	-3,996	-7,230	-844	-12,070	-2,382	-3	1,107	2,331	-429	-41	2,969	5,354
	Quarter 2	10,715	-3,635	-7,560	-754	-11,949	-1,234	-1	-1,148	15,776	-23,345	62	-8,654	-7,419
	Quarter 3	10,019	-2,317	-7,466	-590	-10,373	-354	-10	7,508	-26,570	22,020	-3	2,954	3,318
	Quarter 4	9,442	-5,101	-4,898	-597	-10,596	-1,155	28	-6,818	-14,163	24,870	-97	3,791	4,918
2010	Quarter 1	10,296	-2,922	-7,603	-803	-11,328	-1,032	50	-4,547	-19,821	32,131	-32	7,731	8,713
	Quarter 2	11,372	-3,435	-7,545	-561	-11,541	-169	4	-2,972	8,568	-16,773	19	-11,158	-10,993
	Quarter 3	11,880	-3,204	-6,649	-657	-10,510	1,370	14	1,354	19,581	-25,635	76	-4,624	-6,008
	Quarter 4	9,329	-4,530	-3,536	-486	-8,552	777	23	-9,281	-94,293	104,417	-68	775	-25
2011	Quarter 1	10,172	-2,926	-7,800	-770	-11,496	-1,323	24	-8,203	-7,063	11,577	-65	-3,754	-2,455
	Quarter 2	10,931	-1,532	-8,358	-483	-10,373	557	1	-7,373	-22,344	28,928	29	-760	-1,318
	Quarter 3	11,854	-1,665	-8,070	-593	-10,328	1,526	-1	-6,622	19,456	-15,888	-24	-3,078	-4,603
	Quarter 4	10,364	-2,511	-6,617	-620	-9,748	616	210	4,423	-16,957	10,320	-269	-2,483	-3,309
2012	Quarter 1	9,935	-1,732	-8,698	-734	-11,164	-1,228	61	-15,890	46,456	-28,100	-12	2,453	3,621
	Quarter 2	11,606	-2,482	-7,928	-564	-10,974	632	1	2,591	-31,560	23,823	6	-5,140	-5,773
	Quarter 3	11,056	-911	-7,843	-602	-9,356	1,700	5	-14,887	-5,003	19,228	-1	-663	-2,368
	Quarter 4	9,808	-1,853	-5,840	-517	-8,210	1,598	19	4,898	-5,813	4,150	-5	3,230	1,613
2013	Quarter 1	8,671	-352	-6,786	-752	-7,890	781	53	-3,535	21,668	-12,225	0	5,909	5,074
	Quarter 2	10,293	-232	-8,095	-640	-8,967	1,326	12	-7,358	4,742	1,178	1	-1,437	-2,774
	Quarter 3	9,583	520	-6,929	-487	-6,896	2,687	1	-462	2,439	96	4	2,077	-611
	Quarter 4	7,635	242	-4,454	-583	-4,795	2,839	34	1,520	17,452	-14,423	5	4,554	1,681
2014	Quarter 1	10,146	-1,166	-7,284	-735	-9,185	960	35	7,126	-11,660	4,252	0	-283	-1,278
	Quarter 2	12,179	-1,006	-7,696	-535	-9,237	2,942	9	-859	8,468	1,153	1	8,763	5,811
	Quarter 3	12,359	-839	-7,266	-406	-8,511	3,847	77	7,609	-1,225	-7,407	2	-1,021	-4,945
	Quarter 4	11,212	-3,175	-3,744	-575	-7,494	3,718	14	4,287	8,655	-9,111	133	3,964	232
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.
²Includes financial derivatives and also life insurance liabilities to non-residents. Occasionally includes large capital transactions which cannot be shown in the Capital Account Balance due
to confidentiality constraints.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Table 1 (XLS 41KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 2(a) Current and Capital Accounts

Table 2a Current and Capital Accounts											€ million
		2013	2014	2013				2014
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	91,763	106,819	22,467	24,092	23,172	22,032	24,320	27,196	27,319	27,984
	Imports	55,580	60,924	13,796	13,798	13,589	14,397	14,174	15,017	14,961	16,772

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,751	3,556	799	965	944	1,043	850	828	1,222	656

Services	Exports	92,292	100,972	21,220	23,406	22,710	24,956	22,349	25,926	25,750	26,947
	Imports	92,113	107,158	21,571	23,638	22,190	24,714	23,515	26,932	26,589	30,122
Repairs and Processing	Exports	1,406	1,444	362	329	356	359	346	467	338	293
	Imports	726	762	223	151	187	165	138	228	219	177
Transport	Exports	4,396	4,452	777	1,242	1,420	957	746	1,296	1,440	970
	Imports	1,640	1,858	421	414	402	403	458	448	449	503
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	3,370	3,663	566	904	1,211	689	558	1,043	1,327	735
	Imports	4,669	4,695	871	1,143	1,706	949	788	1,216	1,679	1,012
Insurance	Exports	9,021	9,356	2,335	2,260	2,090	2,336	2,299	2,414	2,240	2,403
	Imports	5,922	6,430	1,650	1,551	1,349	1,372	1,451	1,699	1,553	1,727
Financial services	Exports	8,157	8,494	1,938	2,096	2,055	2,068	1,945	2,153	2,134	2,262
	Imports	5,172	6,732	1,253	1,302	1,298	1,319	1,584	1,665	1,841	1,642
Royalties/Licences	Exports	4,140	4,020	962	1,140	940	1,098	979	962	976	1,103
	Imports	35,796	46,532	8,713	8,953	8,417	9,713	10,281	11,274	11,532	13,445
Communications	Exports	591	582	152	157	133	149	143	146	144	149
	Imports	1,076	1,026	214	295	300	267	256	267	254	249
Computer services³	Exports	38,956	42,943	9,354	10,001	8,825	10,776	9,529	11,434	9,829	12,151
	Imports	346	282	100	82	83	81	69	76	69	68
Business services	Exports	20,575	24,329	4,413	4,917	5,317	5,928	5,438	5,696	6,859	6,336
	Imports	36,550	38,635	8,071	9,694	8,394	10,391	8,438	10,011	8,940	11,246
Research and development	Exports	1,060	1,760	230	256	275	299	288	313	848	311
	Imports	5,181	5,815	1,144	1,098	1,402	1,537	1,319	1,393	1,477	1,626
Operational leasing	Exports	7,497	7,822	1,804	1,858	1,953	1,882	1,846	1,907	2,021	2,048
	Imports	1,393	1,304	357	392	337	307	289	339	339	337
Misc. business services⁴	Exports	12,018	14,748	2,379	2,803	3,089	3,747	3,304	3,476	3,990	3,978
	Imports	29,976	31,517	6,570	8,204	6,655	8,547	6,830	8,279	7,124	9,284
Other services n.e.s.	Exports	1,681	1,691	361	360	363	597	366	316	464	545
	Imports	217	206	54	54	55	54	53	47	53	53

Primary Income	Inflows	56,282	63,384	13,614	13,889	13,972	14,807	14,162	15,435	16,408	17,379
	Outflows	82,546	89,374	20,400	21,984	20,901	19,261	21,446	23,131	23,674	21,123
Compensation of Employees	Inflows	544	541	136	136	136	136	136	138	136	131
	Outflows	706	723	167	179	179	181	175	184	180	184
Investment Income	Inflows	54,287	61,524	13,416	13,713	13,724	13,434	13,980	15,214	16,242	16,088
	Outflows	81,411	88,316	20,101	21,705	20,620	18,985	21,135	22,894	23,435	20,852
Direct investment income	Inflows	17,883	18,357	4,624	4,383	4,598	4,278	4,066	4,549	4,833	4,909
	Outflows	40,395	40,009	10,417	10,894	10,660	8,424	10,520	10,377	10,826	8,286
Income on equity	Inflows	14,395	14,533	3,646	3,634	3,692	3,423	3,106	3,620	3,899	3,908
	Outflows	34,901	34,489	9,301	9,757	9,393	6,450	9,483	9,235	9,636	6,135
Dividends & distributed	Inflows	3,857	2,232	221	1,335	109	2,192	80	*	164	*
branch profits	Outflows	17,106	13,543	4,786	5,487	3,306	3,527	3,853	3,018	3,276	3,396
Reinvested earnings	Inflows	10,538	12,302	3,425	2,299	3,583	1,231	3,027	*	3,735	*
	Outflows	17,794	20,948	4,515	4,271	6,086	2,922	5,630	6,218	6,360	2,740
Income on debt	Inflows	3,488	3,824	978	749	906	855	960	929	934	1,001
	Outflows	5,494	5,518	1,116	1,137	1,267	1,974	1,036	1,142	1,189	2,151
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	26,044	33,914	6,118	6,695	6,658	6,573	7,613	8,388	9,119	8,794
	Outflows	31,092	38,727	7,031	8,380	7,635	8,046	8,432	10,013	10,178	10,104
Income on equity	Inflows	6,920	9,299	1,560	1,908	1,832	1,620	1,806	2,415	2,556	2,522
	Outflows	20,046	28,744	4,138	5,617	4,926	5,365	6,061	7,340	7,694	7,649
Income on debt	Inflows	19,125	24,615	4,558	4,787	4,826	4,954	5,807	5,973	6,563	6,272
	Outflows	11,048	9,983	2,894	2,764	2,709	2,681	2,371	2,673	2,484	2,455
Other investment income	Inflows	10,358	9,253	2,674	2,634	2,468	2,582	2,300	2,277	2,290	2,386
	Outflows	9,925	9,582	2,654	2,431	2,326	2,514	2,184	2,504	2,432	2,462
Other primary income	Inflows	1,451	1,318	62	40	112	1,237	46	83	29	1,160
	Outflows	427	335	132	99	101	95	136	53	59	87

Secondary Income	Inflows	3,246	3,041	909	760	866	711	694	728	800	819
	Outflows	5,708	5,292	1,660	1,400	1,354	1,294	1,429	1,263	1,206	1,394

Current Account - Total	Inflows	243,582	274,216	58,210	62,146	60,720	62,506	61,525	69,285	70,277	73,129
	Outflows	235,948	262,749	57,428	60,820	58,033	59,667	60,565	66,343	66,430	69,411

Current Account Balance		7,633	11,467	781	1,326	2,687	2,839	960	2,942	3,847	3,718

Capital Account Balance		100	135	53	12	1	34	35	9	77	14

Memorandum Item:
Government Income	Inflows	141	106	28	48	37	28	13	28	40	25
	Outflows	4,644	4,795	1,194	1,148	1,157	1,145	1,154	1,289	1,181	1,171
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 was not incorporated as part of computer hardware or physical media but separately transmited by electronic means.
The value of sales and purchases of additional software licences is also included.
⁴Covers mainly advertising and inter-affiliate management charges.
^*Suppressed for confidentiality reasons

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Table 2(a) (XLS 44KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 2(b) Financial Account

Table 2b Financial Account¹											€ million
		2013	2014	2013				2014
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Direct Investment	Abroad	18,057	23,965	14,182	-2,037	4,004	1,908	-547	-1,147	21,441	4,218
	In Ireland	27,892	5,802	17,717	5,321	4,466	388	-7,673	-288	13,832	-69

Equity	Abroad	7,566	-2,184	14,435	-8,255	372	1,014	-5,085	*	12,967	*
	In Ireland	6,825	3,632	11,167	-465	-1,774	-2,103	-2,958	28	5,871	691
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	10,538	12,302	3,425	2,299	3,583	1,231	3,027	*	3,735	*
	In Ireland	17,794	20,948	4,515	4,271	6,086	2,922	5,630	6,218	6,360	2,740
Other Capital	Abroad	-47	13,848	-3,678	3,918	49	-336	1,512	-82	4,739	7,679
	In Ireland	3,273	-18,777	2,034	1,516	154	-431	-10,346	-6,533	1,602	-3,500

Portfolio Investment	Assets	100,923	172,253	57,692	1,550	19,809	21,872	32,667	54,706	54,578	30,302
	Liabilities	54,622	168,014	36,024	-3,192	17,370	4,420	44,327	46,238	55,802	21,647

Equity	Assets	60,653	69,483	16,266	8,997	11,263	24,127	15,667	17,219	17,394	19,203
	Liabilities	82,260	172,155	33,154	4,893	27,181	17,032	42,694	47,990	59,716	21,755
Debt Instruments	Assets	40,271	102,770	41,427	-7,447	8,546	-2,255	16,999	37,488	37,184	11,099
	Liabilities	-27,638	-4,140	2,870	-8,085	-9,811	-12,612	1,633	-1,752	-3,914	-107
Bonds and notes	Assets	45,604	39,024	27,900	2,247	4,843	10,614	1,380	23,146	11,455	3,043
	Liabilities	-19,039	-4,836	1,186	-7,781	-7,510	-4,934	783	-646	-4,958	-15
Money market instruments	Assets	-5,333	63,746	13,527	-9,694	3,703	-12,869	15,620	14,342	25,728	8,056
	Liabilities	-8,596	698	1,684	-303	-2,300	-7,677	850	-1,105	1,045	-92

Other Investment	Assets	-51,470	61,562	-7,658	-7,687	-6,103	-30,022	33,526	2,882	-6,410	31,564
	Liabilities	-26,098	72,676	4,566	-8,865	-6,199	-15,600	29,275	1,729	997	40,675

Loans, currency and deposits	Assets	-46,049	-18,737	-15,255	-8,982	-6,626	-15,186	13,717	-6,668	-18,859	-6,927
	Liabilities	-16,269	-14,187	-11,703	-685	-2,382	-1,499	-3,091	-4,316	-10,414	3,634
Other ²	Assets	-5,421	80,299	7,596	1,295	524	-14,836	19,809	9,550	12,449	38,491
	Liabilities	-9,828	86,863	16,270	-8,180	-3,817	-14,101	32,366	6,045	11,411	37,041

Reserve Assets		10	136	0	1	4	5	0	1	2	133

Monetary gold		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	-1
Special drawing rights		10	0	1	2	3	4	0	0	0	0
Reserve position in the IMF		0	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-1
Foreign exchange		0	0	-1	-1	1	1	0	0	2	-2
Other		0	137	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	137

Balance on Financial Account		11,103	11,423	5,909	-1,437	2,077	4,554	-283	8,763	-1,021	3,964

Net errors and omissions		3,370	-180	5,074	-2,774	-611	1,681	-1,278	5,811	-4,945	232
Memorandum Item:
Government financial	Assets	3,017	-4,914	961	-9	377	1,688	175	-2,041	-175	-2,873
transactions	Liabilities	4,940	2,652	6,972	-852	2,224	-3,404	3,536	1,993	1,164	-4,041
¹Financial account transactions are categorised under two headings 'Assets' and 'Liabilities' for Portfolio Investment, Other Investment and Reserve Assets. For
Direct Investment, a 'directional ' categorisation is used: 'Abroad' indicates direct investment by Irish investors in foreign companies; Direct investment into Ireland is
indicated by the heading 'In Ireland'.
²Includes financial derivatives; in the case of liabilities this category also includes life insurance liabilities to non-residents. Occasionally includes large capital
transactions which cannot be shown in the Capital Account Balance due to confidentiality constraints.
^*Suppressed for confidentiality reasons

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Table 2(b) (XLS 39KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 3 Current, Capital and Financial Account showing IFSC and non IFSC activity

Table 3 Current, Capital and Financial Accounts showing IFSC¹ and Non–IFSC activity											€ million
		2013	2014	2013				2014
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account - Total	Inflows	243,582	274,216	58,210	62,146	60,720	62,506	61,525	69,285	70,277	73,129
	Outflows	235,948	262,749	57,428	60,820	58,033	59,667	60,565	66,343	66,430	69,411

Merchandise ²	Exports	91,763	106,819	22,467	24,092	23,172	22,032	24,320	27,196	27,319	27,984
	Imports	55,580	60,924	13,796	13,798	13,589	14,397	14,174	15,017	14,961	16,772

Services	Exports	92,292	100,972	21,220	23,406	22,710	24,956	22,349	25,926	25,750	26,947
	Imports	92,113	107,158	21,571	23,638	22,190	24,714	23,515	26,932	26,589	30,122

IFSC	Exports	25,863	27,712	6,266	6,491	6,380	6,726	6,661	7,010	6,969	7,072
	Imports	15,298	17,180	3,852	3,909	3,737	3,800	4,049	4,458	4,330	4,343
Non-IFSC	Exports	66,428	73,260	14,954	16,914	16,330	18,230	15,688	18,916	18,781	19,875
	Imports	76,815	89,978	17,719	19,729	18,453	20,914	19,466	22,474	22,259	25,779

Primary Income	Inflows	56,282	63,384	13,614	13,889	13,972	14,807	14,162	15,435	16,408	17,379
	Outflows	82,546	89,374	20,400	21,984	20,901	19,261	21,446	23,131	23,674	21,123

IFSC	Inflows	37,370	44,683	9,072	9,438	9,438	9,422	10,254	10,966	11,741	11,722
	Outflows	38,565	46,149	9,444	9,845	9,790	9,486	10,566	11,558	12,045	11,980
Non-IFSC	Inflows	18,910	18,700	4,542	4,450	4,533	5,385	3,908	4,469	4,666	5,657
	Outflows	43,981	43,225	10,956	12,139	11,111	9,775	10,881	11,573	11,629	9,142

Secondary Income	Inflows	3,246	3,041	909	760	866	711	694	728	800	819
	Outflows	5,708	5,292	1,660	1,400	1,354	1,294	1,429	1,263	1,206	1,394

IFSC³	Inflows	2,742	2,574	748	649	747	598	608	613	674	679
	Outflows	2,742	2,574	748	649	747	598	608	613	674	679
Non-IFSC	Inflows	503	467	161	110	119	113	86	115	126	140
	Outflows	2,965	2,719	912	751	606	696	822	650	532	715

Balance on Current Account		7,633	11,467	781	1,326	2,687	2,839	960	2,942	3,847	3,718

Balance on Capital Account		100	135	53	12	1	34	35	9	77	14

Financial Account ⁴
Direct investment	Abroad	18,057	23,965	14,182	-2,037	4,004	1,908	-547	-1,147	21,441	4,218
	In Ireland	27,892	5,802	17,717	5,321	4,466	388	-7,673	-288	13,832	-69

IFSC	Abroad	3,141	-2,675	670	609	975	887	-3,576	221	264	416
	In Ireland	17,148	3,081	9,163	4,453	3,201	331	-6,038	1,356	11,751	-3,988
Non-IFSC	Abroad	14,918	26,640	13,512	-2,646	3,030	1,022	3,029	-1,368	21,177	3,802
	In Ireland	10,746	2,721	8,554	868	1,266	58	-1,635	-1,644	2,081	3,919

Portfolio investment	Assets	100,923	172,253	57,692	1,550	19,809	21,872	32,667	54,706	54,578	30,302
	Liabilities	54,622	168,014	36,024	-3,192	17,370	4,420	44,327	46,238	55,802	21,647

IFSC	Assets	96,211	164,997	57,599	918	18,638	19,056	34,948	49,728	53,780	26,541
	Liabilities	62,606	138,313	31,059	4,793	19,819	6,935	40,697	46,789	35,600	15,227
Non-IFSC	Assets	4,711	7,256	93	632	1,171	2,815	-2,282	4,979	798	3,761
	Liabilities	-7,984	29,700	4,965	-7,985	-2,449	-2,515	3,629	-551	20,202	6,420

Other investment ⁵	Assets	-51,470	61,562	-7,658	-7,687	-6,103	-30,022	33,526	2,882	-6,410	31,564
	Liabilities	-26,098	72,676	4,566	-8,865	-6,199	-15,600	29,275	1,729	997	40,675

IFSC	Assets	-38,464	70,259	522	-3,263	-2,629	-33,094	40,276	3,876	-4,185	30,292
	Liabilities	-8,068	117,615	22,687	-10,495	-7,468	-12,792	45,320	13,879	8,811	49,605
Non-IFSC	Assets	-13,006	-8,695	-8,180	-4,424	-3,474	3,072	-6,749	-993	-2,225	1,272
	Liabilities	-18,029	-44,939	-18,120	1,630	1,269	-2,808	-16,045	-12,150	-7,814	-8,930

Reserve Assets		10	136	0	1	4	5	0	1	2	133

Balance on Financial Account		11,103	11,423	5,909	-1,437	2,077	4,554	-283	8,763	-1,021	3,964
Net errors and omissions		3,370	-180	5,074	-2,774	-611	1,681	-1,278	5,811	-4,945	232
¹From the start of 2000 new international financial service projects are no longer subject to the earlier certification and licensing procedures in operation for location in
the IFSC and such projects can, therefore, locate anywhere in Ireland. Additions to existing IFSC projects, however, are still subject to the
formal procedures. For statistical analysis purposes this table still shows the 'IFSC/non-IFSC' breakdown and the activities of all international financial service
enterprises are covered under the IFSC heading.
²Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.
³Secondary income flows to and from IFSC enterprises relate solely to non-life insurance transactions (see Background Notes).
⁴See footnote 1 on Table 2b.
⁵Includes financial derivatives; in the case of liabilities this category also includes life insurance liabilities to non-residents. Occasionally includes large capital
transactions which cannot be shown in the Capital Account Balance due to confidentiality constraints.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Table 3 (XLS 59KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 4(a) Current and Capital Accounts showing geographical detail

Table 4a Current and Capital Accounts showing geographical¹ detail											€ million
		2013	2014	2013				2014
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Current Account - Total	Inflows	243,582	274,216	58,210	62,146	60,720	62,506	61,525	69,285	70,277	73,129
	Outflows	235,948	262,749	57,428	60,820	58,033	59,667	60,565	66,343	66,430	69,411

Merchandise2	Exports	91,763	106,819	22,467	24,092	23,172	22,032	24,320	27,196	27,319	27,984
	Imports	55,580	60,924	13,796	13,798	13,589	14,397	14,174	15,017	14,961	16,772
EMU	Exports	33,976	39,030	7,852	8,928	8,675	8,521	9,109	9,268	10,443	10,210
	Imports	13,933	15,351	3,511	3,521	3,356	3,545	3,655	3,723	3,662	4,311
Non-EMU	Exports	57,787	67,788	14,615	15,164	14,497	13,511	15,212	17,927	16,876	17,773
	Imports	41,646	45,571	10,285	10,277	10,232	10,852	10,519	11,294	11,298	12,460
EU	Exports	51,942	57,483	12,180	13,702	13,369	12,691	13,374	14,002	15,454	14,653
	Imports	38,305	40,737	9,473	9,374	9,489	9,969	9,632	9,874	9,921	11,310
Non-EU	Exports	39,821	49,336	10,287	10,390	9,803	9,341	10,946	13,194	11,865	13,331
	Imports	17,275	20,187	4,324	4,424	4,099	4,428	4,542	5,143	5,040	5,462

Services	Exports	92,292	100,972	21,220	23,406	22,710	24,956	22,349	25,926	25,750	26,947
	Imports	92,113	107,158	21,571	23,638	22,190	24,714	23,515	26,932	26,589	30,122
EMU	Exports	29,702	33,070	7,126	8,055	6,678	7,843	7,142	8,807	8,341	8,780
	Imports	33,729	33,728	7,830	8,444	8,320	9,135	7,707	8,507	8,610	8,904
Non-EMU	Exports	62,590	67,902	14,094	15,351	16,032	17,113	15,207	17,119	17,409	18,167
	Imports	58,383	73,431	13,741	15,194	13,869	15,579	15,808	18,425	17,979	21,219
EU	Exports	51,398	57,664	12,070	13,418	12,260	13,650	12,404	15,283	14,639	15,338
	Imports	44,766	46,070	10,386	11,171	10,834	12,375	10,431	11,662	11,687	12,290
Non-EU	Exports	40,894	43,309	9,150	9,988	10,450	11,306	9,945	10,644	11,111	11,609
	Imports	47,346	61,088	11,186	12,466	11,355	12,339	13,084	15,270	14,902	17,832

Primary Income	Inflows	56,282	63,384	13,614	13,889	13,972	14,807	14,162	15,435	16,408	17,379
	Outflows	82,546	89,374	20,400	21,984	20,901	19,261	21,446	23,131	23,674	21,123
EMU	Inflows	18,187	19,784	4,778	4,311	4,397	4,701	4,921	5,179	5,011	4,673
	Outflows	27,286	28,078	6,536	7,077	7,104	6,569	7,316	6,418	7,811	6,533
Non-EMU	Inflows	38,095	43,599	8,836	9,578	9,575	10,106	9,241	10,256	11,396	12,706
	Outflows	55,260	61,296	13,865	14,907	13,797	12,691	14,130	16,713	15,863	14,590
EU	Inflows	28,667	32,799	7,144	6,477	6,790	8,256	7,744	8,153	8,130	8,772
	Outflows	43,503	48,962	10,805	11,181	11,209	10,308	11,836	11,691	13,347	12,088
Non-EU	Inflows	27,615	30,586	6,470	7,412	7,182	6,551	6,418	7,283	8,278	8,607
	Outflows	39,043	40,412	9,596	10,802	9,692	8,953	9,610	11,440	10,327	9,035

Secondary Income	Inflows	3,246	3,041	909	760	866	711	694	728	800	819
	Outflows	5,708	5,292	1,660	1,400	1,354	1,294	1,429	1,263	1,206	1,394
EMU	Inflows	1,062	1,000	306	244	295	217	244	203	283	270
	Outflows	1,148	1,085	327	266	317	238	265	225	304	291
Non-EMU	Inflows	2,183	2,041	603	515	571	494	449	525	518	549
	Outflows	4,561	4,209	1,333	1,135	1,037	1,056	1,165	1,039	902	1,103
EU	Inflows	2,368	2,150	722	537	620	489	506	467	595	582
	Outflows	4,429	4,231	1,369	977	1,055	1,028	1,196	963	962	1,110
Non-EU	Inflows	877	891	187	222	246	222	188	261	205	237
	Outflows	1,280	1,062	291	423	299	267	233	300	244	285

Balance on Current Account		7,633	11,467	781	1,326	2,687	2,839	960	2,942	3,847	3,718

Balance on Capital Account		100	135	53	12	1	34	35	9	77	14

¹The term ‘EMU’ means the area represented by the 18 Member States participating in Monetary Union since the enlargement of the Euro area on 1 January 2014 to include
Latvia. With the expansion of the EU on 1 July 2013 to include Croatia the term ‘EU’ relates to transactions between residents of Ireland and other residents of the EU28
area. All data shown on this table relates to EMU18 and EU28.
²Adjusted for balance of payments purposes

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Table 4(a) (XLS 40KB)

Hide Table

Show Table 4(b) Financial Account showing geographical detail

Table 4b Financial Account¹ showing geographical² detail											€ million
		2013	2014	2013				2014
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Direct Investment	Abroad	18,057	23,965	14,182	-2,037	4,004	1,908	-547	-1,147	21,441	4,218
	In Ireland	27,892	5,802	17,717	5,321	4,466	388	-7,673	-288	13,832	-69

EMU	Abroad	7,259	20,898	3,955	271	2,183	850	624	-424	18,926	1,772
	In Ireland	14,066	4,749	5,731	5,904	2,673	-242	-4,302	-3,067	7,169	4,949
Non-EMU	Abroad	10,799	3,068	10,227	-2,308	1,821	1,059	-1,170	-723	2,515	2,446
	In Ireland	13,827	1,055	11,986	-584	1,794	631	-3,370	2,780	6,663	-5,018
EU	Abroad	12,823	19,359	6,817	174	3,373	2,459	-2,151	-3,450	20,765	4,195
	In Ireland	14,264	-368	10,136	5,177	3,077	-4,126	-7,506	-2,922	4,871	5,189
Non-EU	Abroad	5,234	4,606	7,366	-2,212	631	-551	1,604	2,303	676	23
	In Ireland	13,628	6,170	7,581	143	1,389	4,515	-167	2,634	8,962	-5,259

Portfolio Investment	Assets	100,923	172,253	57,692	1,550	19,809	21,872	32,667	54,706	54,578	30,302
	Liabilities	54,622	168,014	36,024	-3,192	17,370	4,420	44,327	46,238	55,802	21,647

EMU	Assets	23,001	35,611	19,599	6,822	-2,079	-1,341	20,603	10,994	8,809	-4,795
	Liabilities	9,113	43,821	9,452	1,825	468	-2,632	14,740	9,449	6,952	12,680
Non-EMU	Assets	77,923	136,640	38,093	-5,272	21,888	23,214	12,063	43,712	45,768	35,097
	Liabilities	45,509	124,194	26,572	-5,017	16,902	7,052	29,587	36,789	48,850	8,968
EU	Assets	45,135	78,709	17,599	5,974	15,257	6,305	22,442	31,860	12,451	11,956
	Liabilities	39,223	129,406	23,178	3,928	13,073	-956	40,762	38,339	26,053	24,252
Non-EU	Assets	55,790	93,543	40,094	-4,424	4,552	15,568	10,224	22,846	42,127	18,346
	Liabilities	15,400	38,608	12,847	-7,120	4,297	5,376	3,565	7,899	29,749	-2,605

Other Investment ³	Assets	-51,470	61,562	-7,658	-7,687	-6,103	-30,022	33,526	2,882	-6,410	31,564
	Liabilities	-26,098	72,676	4,566	-8,865	-6,199	-15,600	29,275	1,729	997	40,675

EMU	Assets	-17,279	7,577	3,766	-4,589	-10,893	-5,563	5,808	9,555	1,444	-9,230
	Liabilities	-34,647	-12,934	-13,247	-5,069	-7,517	-8,814	797	-4,337	-11,188	1,794
Non-EMU	Assets	-34,191	53,985	-11,424	-3,098	4,790	-24,459	27,718	-6,673	-7,854	40,794
	Liabilities	8,549	85,609	17,813	-3,796	1,318	-6,786	28,478	6,066	12,184	38,881
EU	Assets	-27,783	14,829	-4,225	-5,512	-2,779	-15,267	19,055	-520	7,097	-10,803
	Liabilities	-24,918	13,769	-9,873	-8,468	962	-7,539	6,945	-4,420	-6,539	17,783
Non-EU	Assets	-23,687	46,734	-3,433	-2,175	-3,324	-14,755	14,472	3,402	-13,507	42,367
	Liabilities	-1,180	58,909	14,439	-397	-7,161	-8,061	22,330	6,150	7,536	22,893

Reserve Assets		10	136	0	1	4	5	0	1	2	133

Balance on Financial Account		11,103	11,423	5,909	-1,437	2,077	4,554	-283	8,763	-1,021	3,964

Net errors and omissions		3,370	-180	5,074	-2,774	-611	1,681	-1,278	5,811	-4,945	232
¹See footnote 1 on Table 2b.
²The term ‘EMU’ means the area represented by the 18 Member States participating in Monetary Union since the enlargement of the Euro area on 1 January 2014 to include Latvia.
With the expansion of the EU on 1 July 2013 to include Croatia the term ‘EU’ relates to transactions between residents of Ireland and other residents of the EU28 area. All data shown
on this table relates to EMU18 and EU28.
³Includes financial derivatives; in the case of liabilities this category also includes life insurance liabilities to non-residents. Occasionally includes large capital transactions which
cannot be shown in the Capital Account Balance due to confidentiality constraints.

View Table in PxStat

Open in Excel: Balance of International Payments Q4 2014 Table 4(b) (XLS 38KB)

Hide Table

Show Background Notes

Background Notes

Definition

The balance of payments (BOP) is a statistical statement that summarises, for a specific time period, the economic transactions of the residents of an economy with the rest of the world.

The balance of payments presentation consists of three tables or accounts, the Current Account, the Capital Account and the Financial Account. The current account consists of trade in merchandise and services, as well as primary and secondary income account inflows and outflows. The capital account covers capital transfers and the acquisition and disposal of non-produced, non-financial assets. The financial account is concerned with transactions in foreign financial assets and liabilities, distinguishing the functional type of investment i.e. direct, portfolio and other investment (including transactions in financial derivatives) and reserve assets.

BOP transactions, in principle, should be recorded on an accruals basis using market valuation. In practice, the collection system (see below) is designed to adhere to this approach and, for the most part, the valuations reported are either market values or a close approximation.

For more detailed methodological information see the http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/balanceofpayments/methodologydocuments/BOP Quarterly Statistical Compilation Methodology (PDF 239KB)

Hide Background Notes

Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/bop/balanceofinternationalpaymentsq42014/

Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:

(+353) 21 453 5000

E-Mail:

information@cso.ie

PxStat interactive tables:

International comparison:

See also:

For more information on this release:

For general information on CSO statistics:

Balance of International Payments

Quarter 4 and Year 2014

Current account surplus of €3.7bn in 4th Quarter

Current account (see Table 2a)

Financial account (see Tables 2b and 3)

Background Notes

Definition

Contact:

Links:

Follow: