Ireland’s Balance of Payments showed a current account surplus of €13.6bn in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2023.
Merchandise exports were €89bn in Q1 2023, an increase of €10.6bn compared with Q1 2022. Merchandise imports were €33bn in Q1 2023, up €0.9bn compared with the same period in 2022.
Service exports at €83.2bn, grew by €4.7bn compared with Q1 2022. Service imports at €84bn were up €12.5bn over the same period in 2022.
The trade balance at €55.2bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, increased by €1.9bn in Q1 2023 over the same period in 2022.
The overall income balance for Q1 2023 was minus €41.6bn, a decrease of €4.4bn compared with the same period in 2022.
Direct investment into Ireland rose by €2bn in Q1 2023 while direct investment abroad grew by €10.6bn in the quarter.
The stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) assets held in Ireland by foreign investors fell by €23.7bn in Q1 2023 to €1,260bn. FDI assets held abroad by Irish investors grew by €31.4bn in the quarter to €1,156.6bn.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today (14 July 2023) published updated International Accounts results for Quarter 1, 2023, updated Quarterly National Accounts and Annual National Accounts (ANA) results for the year 2022.
Commenting on the release, Jennifer Banim, Assistant Director General with responsibility for Economic Statistics said:
“In International Accounts results, the Current Account of the Balance of Payments recorded a surplus of €54.6 billion in flows with the rest of the world in 2022, a disimprovement of €4.9 billion compared with the surplus of €59.5 billion in 2021. This was driven to a significant degree by higher royalty imports and net outflows of multinational profits. The disimprovement of €5.7 billion in the Services balance between 2021 and 2022 reflects increased royalty imports in 2022 that overtook the increase in computer services exports in the year."
More commentary is available in the Press Release also issued today.