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International Accounts Q1 2021 Final

Accounts with the UK and US

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Current account with UK shows surplus of €3.4bn in Quarter 1 2021

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q4 2018	-0.593	3.275	-3.905	-1.223
Q1 2019	-1.483	3.009	-3.142	-1.615
Q2 2019	-0.498	3.368	-4.424	-1.554
Q3 2019	-0.856	3.755	-3.662	-0.763
Q4 2019	-1.056	3.918	-2.52	0.342
Q1 2020	-0.656	3.419	-3.162	-0.399
Q2 2020	-0.751	3.432	-2.462	0.219
Q3 2020	-0.566	4.149	-2.038	1.546
Q4 2020	-1.654	3.867	-1.724	0.49
Q1 2021	1.305	3.576	-1.483	3.398

Current account with UK (See Table 4.1)

Merchandise exports were €5,494m in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of €543m compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Merchandise imports were €4,189m in the first quarter of 2021, a decrease of €1,418m compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Services exports at €8,922m increased by €489m compared to the first quarter of 2020, mainly due to computer and financial exports.
Services imports at €5,346m were up €332m over that same period in 2020. These figures were affected by increased levels of financial and business costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,795m, increased by €218m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €7,314m decreased by €1,456m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €2,118m and net income outflows have decreased by €1,679m, compared with the first quarter of 2020. The result is a current account balance surplus of €3,398m in the first quarter of 2021, up from a deficit of €399m in the first quarter of 2020.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 4.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has increased by €1,192m in the first quarter of 2021. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €1,565m in the first quarter of 2021 mainly due to increases in reinvested earnings and other capital.

Table 4.1 Current Account with UK

Table 4.1 Current Account with UK												€ million
		2019	2020	2019				2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	21,376	20,158	5,129	5,259	5,247	5,741	4,951	4,216	5,006	5,985	5,494
	Imports	25,269	23,785	6,612	5,757	6,103	6,797	5,607	4,967	5,572	7,639	4,189

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,359	3,430	871	778	814	896	866	834	788	942	944

Services	Exports	35,346	35,119	7,891	8,609	9,102	9,744	8,433	8,026	8,732	9,928	8,922
	Imports	21,296	20,252	4,882	5,241	5,347	5,826	5,014	4,594	4,583	6,061	5,346
Transport	Exports	2,488	911	368	669	897	554	345	117	305	144	94
	Imports	678	648	176	161	165	176	164	130	151	203	133
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,056	286	209	273	336	238	179	29	34	44	12
	Imports	1,403	528	356	294	352	401	283	29	91	125	46
Insurance	Exports	1,950	1,944	479	471	480	520	545	487	447	465	553
	Imports	1,898	1,674	450	505	463	480	522	424	358	370	516
Financial services	Exports	6,746	6,992	1,653	1,603	1,666	1,824	1,472	1,651	1,806	2,063	1,910
	Imports	6,337	6,518	1,486	1,542	1,542	1,767	1,291	1,630	1,465	2,132	1,786
Royalties/Licences	Exports	466	396	96	95	110	165	85	78	89	144	93
	Imports	299	316	77	73	75	74	90	68	67	91	72
Computer services³	Exports	12,325	14,661	2,789	2,915	3,086	3,535	3,293	3,195	3,632	4,541	4,053
	Imports	230	240	49	56	61	64	46	59	67	68	53
Business services	Exports	5,118	4,633	1,226	1,262	1,249	1,381	1,254	1,053	1,046	1,280	1,046
	Imports	9,409	9,310	2,033	2,352	2,428	2,596	2,368	2,032	2,128	2,782	2,503
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	905	826	243	222	224	216	229	213	186	198	204
	Imports	148	145	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Other	Exports	5,198	5,296	1,070	1,322	1,278	1,528	1,258	1,416	1,374	1,248	1,161
	Imports	1,039	1,013	253	257	261	268	250	221	253	289	238

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	56,724	55,278	13,020	13,869	14,349	15,486	13,384	12,242	13,738	15,914	14,416
	Imports	46,566	44,037	11,494	10,998	11,450	12,624	10,621	9,561	10,155	13,700	9,535

Trade balance	Net	10,157	11,242	1,526	2,870	2,899	2,862	2,763	2,681	3,584	2,214	4,881

Primary Income	Inflows	25,530	22,120	5,803	6,689	6,667	6,371	5,633	5,757	5,453	5,277	5,816
	Outflows	39,497	31,705	8,999	11,168	10,384	8,946	8,849	8,268	7,539	7,049	7,356
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	25,306	22,000	5,747	6,633	6,611	6,315	5,577	5,736	5,431	5,256	5,795
	Outflows	39,178	31,494	8,918	11,089	10,305	8,866	8,770	8,223	7,492	7,009	7,314
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,396	2,794	242	920	938	296	201	938	939	716	1,266
	Outflows	3,970	1,918	731	1,469	1,087	683	528	580	482	328	18
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	15,174	13,982	3,709	3,814	3,841	3,810	3,932	3,426	3,303	3,321	3,382
	Outflows	31,873	26,444	7,290	8,922	8,323	7,338	7,340	6,865	6,322	5,917	6,526
Other investment income	Inflows	7,737	5,225	1,796	1,900	1,832	2,209	1,444	1,373	1,189	1,219	1,146
	Outflows	3,336	3,132	898	698	895	845	903	778	687	764	770

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,224	1,688	296	293	322	313	503	377	418	390	306
	Outflows	1,005	1,489	242	238	267	258	449	328	370	342	249

Income balance	Net	-13,748	-9,386	-3,142	-4,424	-3,662	-2,520	-3,162	-2,462	-2,038	-1,724	-1,483

Current Account - Total	Inflows	83,478	79,087	19,119	20,851	21,339	22,169	19,520	18,376	19,610	21,581	20,538
	Outflows	87,067	77,229	20,734	22,404	22,101	21,828	19,919	18,156	18,063	21,091	17,140

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	-3,590	1,856	-1,615	-1,554	-763	342	-399	219	1,546	490	3,398
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 Q1 2021 Table 4.1 (XLS 16KB)

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Table 4.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

Current account with US shows deficit of €15.8bn in Quarter 1 2021

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
2014	18	-17.4	-0.1	0.5
2015	34.3	-27.6	1	7.7
2016	30.8	-34.9	2	-2.1
2017	28.1	-29.8	-6.8	-8.4
2018	35.1	-24.5	-6.1	4.5
2019	44.8	-22.4	-3.9	18.5
2020	50.6	-74.1	-0.1	-23.6

Current account with US (See Table 4.4)

Merchandise exports were €17,979m in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of €613m compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Merchandise imports were €4,646m in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of €879m compared with the first quarter of 2020.
Services exports at €8,811m increased by €1,249m compared to the first quarter of 2020.
Services imports at €29,455m were up €8,424m over that same period in 2020.
Investment income earned in the US at €7,810m, increased by €554m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to US investors at €16,380m increased by €9,105m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the US has decreased by €7,441m and net income outflows have decreased by €8,564m, compared with the first quarter of 2020. The result is a current account balance deficit of €15,848m in the first quarter of 2021, down from a surplus of €157m in the first quarter of 2020.

These experimental tables showing the Current Account with the US annually and quarterly follow on from our note on Ireland’s Current Account with the US.

For more information on services see our release on International Trade in Services.

Table 4.3 Current Account with US - Annual

Table 4.3 Current Account with US - Annual								€ million
Item		2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	27,734	47,998	47,072	43,081	51,959	63,952	65,339
	Imports	9,780	13,739	16,262	14,943	16,844	19,199	14,740
Net Merchandise		17,954	34,259	30,811	28,138	35,115	44,753	50,599

of which: International Trade	Exports	20,762	26,861	31,898	33,284	39,347	47,281	50,574
	Imports	8,115	9,695	12,212	14,398	15,334	14,412	11,301
of which: Goods for Processing	Exports	5,108	14,350	14,021	11,489	11,140	14,112	13,711
	Imports	1,456	2,390	1,055	518	1,538	4,697	3,432

Services	Exports	9,039	13,577	14,570	17,713	23,402	35,836	33,007
	Imports	26,415	41,177	49,490	47,461	47,944	58,217	107,062
Net Services		-17,375	-27,599	-34,920	-29,748	-24,542	-22,381	-74,055


Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	36,773	61,575	61,642	60,794	75,361	99,788	98,346
	Imports	36,195	54,916	65,752	62,404	64,788	77,416	121,802

Trade balance	Net	579	6,659	-4,110	-1,610	10,573	22,372	-23,456

Primary Income	Inflows	13,487	15,487	16,761	18,488	21,419	28,541	27,872
	Outflows	13,658	14,547	14,866	25,457	27,609	32,589	28,163
Net Primary Income		-172	940	1,895	-6,969	-6,190	-4,048	-291

of which: Investment Income	Inflows	13,430	15,432	16,705	18,430	21,360	28,483	27,844
	Outflows	13,651	14,538	14,855	25,443	27,594	32,578	28,152
Direct investment income	Inflows	3,350	3,874	2,315	1,122	905	2,074	4,214
	Outflows	5,161	2,568	2,482	9,601	11,286	11,386	8,366
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	8,428	9,719	11,579	14,261	16,394	20,508	18,928
	Outflows	6,447	9,402	10,049	13,135	13,758	17,166	16,349
Other investment income	Inflows	1,652	1,839	2,812	3,047	4,061	5,901	4,702
	Outflows	2,043	2,568	2,324	2,707	2,550	4,026	3,437

Secondary Income	Inflows	419	542	464	582	526	557	677
	Outflows	362	471	391	448	397	416	535

Income balance	Net	-114	1,011	1,968	-6,835	-6,061	-3,907	-149

Current Account - Total	Inflows	50,680	77,604	78,867	79,864	97,306	128,886	126,895
	Outflows	50,215	69,934	81,009	88,309	92,794	110,421	150,500

Current Account Balance with US	Net	465	7,670	-2,142	-8,445	4,512	18,465	-23,605
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q1 2021 Table 4.3 (XLS 12KB)

Table 4.4 Current Account with US - Quarterly

Table 4.4 Current Account with US - Quarterly												€ million
		2019	2020	2019				2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	63,953	65,338	16,078	15,562	16,236	16,077	17,366	15,526	17,801	14,645	17,979
	Imports	19,200	14,740	4,755	5,379	4,143	4,923	3,767	3,652	3,193	4,128	4,646
Net Merchandise		44,753	50,598	11,323	10,183	12,093	11,154	13,599	11,874	14,608	10,517	13,333

of which: International Trade	Exports	47,281	50,574	10,994	11,446	12,872	11,969	13,536	11,669	13,570	11,799	13,614
	Imports	14,412	11,301	3,651	3,963	3,334	3,464	2,934	2,488	2,743	3,136	3,463
of which: Goods for Processing	Exports	14,113	13,711	4,256	2,949	3,180	3,728	3,123	3,209	3,436	3,943	3,893
	Imports	4,697	3,432	1,097	1,409	763	1,428	836	1,153	441	1,002	1,317

Services	Exports	35,837	33,008	7,353	8,796	9,236	10,452	7,562	8,344	7,658	9,444	8,811
	Imports	58,217	107,063	13,062	13,685	14,918	16,552	21,031	21,281	26,353	38,398	29,455
Net Services		-22,380	-74,055	-5,709	-4,889	-5,682	-6,100	-13,469	-12,937	-18,695	-28,954	-20,644


Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	99,790	98,346	23,431	24,358	25,472	26,529	24,928	23,870	25,459	24,089	26,790
	Imports	77,417	121,803	17,817	19,064	19,061	21,475	24,798	24,933	29,546	42,526	34,101

Trade balance	Net	22,373	-23,457	5,614	5,294	6,411	5,054	130	-1,063	-4,087	-18,437	-7,311

Primary Income	Inflows	28,542	27,872	7,088	7,834	7,358	6,262	7,270	6,736	6,737	7,129	7,814
	Outflows	32,590	28,163	10,480	10,041	5,880	6,189	7,278	6,957	7,326	6,602	16,385
Net Primary Income		-4,048	-291	-3,392	-2,207	1,478	73	-8	-221	-589	527	-8,571

of which: Investment Income	Inflows	28,484	27,846	7,073	7,820	7,344	6,247	7,256	6,732	6,733	7,125	7,810
	Outflows	32,578	28,151	10,477	10,039	5,876	6,186	7,275	6,955	7,322	6,599	16,380
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,075	4,215	678	518	620	259	778	649	989	1,799	1,468
	Outflows	11,385	8,366	5,603	3,900	814	1,068	2,119	1,861	2,507	1,879	12,424
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	20,508	18,928	4,714	5,637	5,298	4,859	5,107	4,943	4,704	4,174	5,190
	Outflows	17,166	16,348	3,871	5,119	4,046	4,130	4,234	4,219	3,978	3,917	3,176
Other investment income	Inflows	5,901	4,703	1,681	1,665	1,426	1,129	1,371	1,140	1,040	1,152	1,152
	Outflows	4,027	3,437	1,003	1,020	1,016	988	922	875	837	803	780

Secondary Income	Inflows	558	677	85	88	143	242	223	117	165	172	167
	Outflows	417	535	50	52	108	207	188	82	129	136	133

Income balance	Net	-3,907	-149	-3,357	-2,171	1,513	108	27	-186	-553	563	-8,537

Current Account - Total	Inflows	128,890	126,895	30,604	32,280	32,973	33,033	32,421	30,723	32,361	31,390	34,771
	Outflows	110,424	150,501	28,347	29,157	25,049	27,871	32,264	31,972	37,001	49,264	50,619

Current Account Balance with US	Net	18,466	-23,606	2,257	3,123	7,924	5,162	157	-1,249	-4,640	-17,874	-15,848
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q1 2021 Table 4.4 (XLS 14KB)

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Table 4.2 Foreign Direct investment with UK¹												€ million
		2019	2020	2019				2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1

Direct Investment	Abroad	6,477	-1,706	5,619	1,389	-1,603	1,072	-1,642	-586	-767	1,289	1,565
	In Ireland	-10,576	2,441	3,750	3,765	-6,758	-11,333	1,023	1,534	-136	20	1,192

Equity	Abroad	3,500	8,432	4,776	50	-1,994	668	*	-1,127	*	389	-186
	In Ireland	*	-3,768	1,477	-1,434	487	*	-10	-2,466	-1,099	-193	93
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,552	2,086	31	740	631	150	38	785	807	456	1,123
	In Ireland	2,173	22	247	1,117	646	163	-203	156	240	-171	-180
Other Capital	Abroad	1,428	-12,224	813	600	-240	255	*	-244	*	444	628
	In Ireland	*	6,185	2,026	4,082	-7,891	*	1,236	3,843	723	383	1,279
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 Q1 2021 Final

Accounts with the UK and US

Accounts with the UK and US

Current account with UK shows surplus of €3.4bn in Quarter 1 2021

Current account with UK (See Table 4.1)

Current account with US shows deficit of €15.8bn in Quarter 1 2021

Current account with US (See Table 4.4)

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