Press Statement

Preasráiteas

05 March 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (05 March 2021) published Quarterly National Accounts and International Accounts results for Quarter 4, 2020 and preliminary results for the Year 2020.

Assistant Director General with responsibility for Economic Statistics, Jennifer Banim, commented:

“The pandemic impacted various sectors of the economy differently during 2020 as the levels of COVID-19 related restrictions changed over the year. Today’s results show the overall annual impact and the underlying quarterly variations as the levels of restrictions changed throughout the year.

Sectors focused on the domestic market experienced significantly lower levels of economic activity in 2020, with the Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants sector contracting by 16.7% and Construction decreasing by 12.7%. Growth continued in the more globalised sectors with Industry increasing by 15.2% while the Information & Communication sector increased by 14.3% in the year.  Overall, multinational sector growth was 18.2% and in 2020, these sectors accounted for 50.0% of total value added in the economy, compared with a 43.4% share in 2019. The Arts & Entertainment sector contracted by 54.4% in 2020.

Looking at expenditure in the economy, Government spending on goods and services increased by 9.8% in 2020, while personal spending on goods and services (the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) indicator) decreased by 9.0% in the year. Significant changes in this personal spending indicator can be seen throughout 2020 as the levels of restrictions changed. Decreases for PCE in Q1 and Q2, 2020 of 3.2% and 19.1% were partly offset by an increase of 20.9% in Q3 as restrictions eased. A decrease of 2.3% was recorded for PCE in Q4 2020 as restrictions were again imposed.

Overall, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 3.4% in 2020, with the fall in personal consumption more than offset by the combined effect of the 6.2% growth in Exports of Goods & Services and the 11.3% decrease in imports in the year. Gross National Product (GNP) - a measure of economic activity that excludes the profits of multinationals - increased by 0.6%, reflecting the increase in multinational profit outflows in 2020.”

Commenting on the impact of globalisation activities in 2020, Ms Banim said:

“Compared to the previous year, investment in Intellectual Property Products (IPP) and in aircraft by leasing companies was lower in 2020, driving a decrease of 19.3% in Final Domestic Demand in the year. Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), a broad measure of underlying domestic demand that excludes IPP and aircraft related globalisation effects, decreased by 5.4% in 2020. 

In International Accounts results, the Current Account of the Balance of Payments recorded a surplus of €16.9 billion in flows with the rest of the world in 2020. The accumulation of the IPP relocations to Ireland in recent years is now leading to a degree of reduced overall royalty payments abroad.  Specifically, royalty imports for pharmaceutical products and preparations decreased to €14.1 billion in 2020 from €20.9 billion in 2019. However, this has been largely offset by increases in royalty imports for information and communications which increased from €50.7 billion in 2019 to €57.2 billion in 2020. Multinational profit outflows were €88.1 billion in the year, an increase of €5.8 billion on 2019 levels.

Today’s International Accounts publication includes a table of Current Account transactions with the UK. The results show a surplus of €9.9 billion for Trade in Goods & Services with the UK in 2020, an increase of €0.4 billion on the 2019 trade balance. The trade surplus was offset by a deficit of €9.6 billion for income flows, giving an overall Current Account surplus of €0.3 billion with the UK in the year.”

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