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International Accounts Q2 2019

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with UK shows deficit of €2.3bn in Quarter 2 2019

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
Q1 2016	0.881	1.758	-2.848	-0.209
Q2 2016	0.245	2.351	-3.545	-0.949
Q3 2016	0.44	2.722	-3.702	-0.54
Q4 2016	1.052	2.438	-2.414	1.076
Q1 2017	0.712	2.464	-2.189	0.987
Q2 2017	0.452	3.172	-3.688	-0.065
Q3 2017	-0.039	3.253	-3.045	0.171
Q4 2017	-0.507	2.303	-2.065	-0.27
Q1 2018	-0.299	2.134	-2.407	-0.574
Q2 2018	-0.247	2.607	-4.186	-1.825
Q3 2018	-0.228	2.976	-3.414	-0.665
Q4 2018	-0.513	2.733	-4.277	-2.058
Q1 2019	-1.059	2.418	-2.921	-1.561
Q2 2019	-0.751	2.803	-4.401	-2.348

Current account with UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €5,400m in the second quarter of 2019, a decrease of €136m compared with the second quarter of 2018.
Merchandise imports were €6,151m in the second quarter of 2019, an increase of €368m compared with the second quarter of 2018.
Services exports at €7,752m increased by €830m compared to the second quarter of 2018, mainly due to computer, financial and business services exports.
Service imports at €4,949m were up €634m over that same period in 2018. These figures were affected by increased levels of financial, business and insurance costs.
Investment income earned in UK at €5,736m, increased by €751m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €10,087m increased by €946m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has decreased by €308m and net income outflows have increased by €215m, compared with the second quarter of 2018. The result is a current account deficit of €2,348m in the second quarter of 2019, down from the deficit of €1,825m in the second quarter of 2018.

We have also included a new experimental table on foreign direct investment with UK (See Table 3.2); this table shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has increased by €3,790m in the second quarter of 2019. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €1,367m in the second quarter of 2019 mainly due to increases in reinvested earnings and other capital.

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with UK									€ million
		2017	2018	2018				2019
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	23,821	23,051	5,429	5,536	5,769	6,317	5,540	5,400
	Imports	23,203	24,338	5,728	5,783	5,997	6,830	6,599	6,151

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	4,031	4,863	1,129	1,213	1,143	1,378	913	841

Services	Exports	26,279	28,282	6,437	6,922	7,454	7,469	7,230	7,752
	Imports	15,087	17,832	4,303	4,315	4,478	4,736	4,812	4,949
Transport	Exports	2,349	2,390	395	640	872	483	368	665
	Imports	534	564	136	136	138	154	150	141
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	1,032	1,008	212	269	299	228	201	260
	Imports	1,051	1,158	289	235	290	344	326	274
Insurance	Exports	2,476	2,542	664	628	609	641	642	499
	Imports	1,590	1,724	421	428	450	425	446	501
Financial services	Exports	5,660	5,670	1,475	1,425	1,393	1,377	1,633	1,534
	Imports	4,161	4,535	1,135	1,152	1,137	1,111	1,433	1,414
Royalties/Licences	Exports	358	371	81	74	55	161	103	101
	Imports	483	330	82	78	81	89	67	73
Computer services³	Exports	6,389	8,296	1,652	1,821	2,242	2,581	2,347	2,439
	Imports	247	220	61	44	50	65	42	49
Business services	Exports	4,327	4,400	1,019	1,132	1,093	1,156	1,159	1,203
	Imports	6,429	8,706	2,033	2,093	2,182	2,398	2,196	2,351
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	754	728	162	200	178	188	230	214
	Imports	28	38	9	9	11	9	42	43
Other	Exports	3,689	3,603	939	932	891	841	777	1,052
	Imports	594	594	145	149	151	149	152	146

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	50,100	51,333	11,866	12,459	13,223	13,785	12,770	13,153
	Imports	38,290	42,170	10,031	10,098	10,475	11,566	11,411	11,099

Trade balance	Net	11,810	9,163	1,835	2,361	2,748	2,219	1,359	2,053

Primary Income	Inflows	17,195	18,568	4,357	5,041	5,137	4,033	5,121	5,792
	Outflows	28,168	32,832	6,758	9,222	8,546	8,306	8,038	10,170
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	16,970	18,343	4,301	4,985	5,080	3,977	5,066	5,736
	Outflows	27,837	32,509	6,678	9,141	8,465	8,225	7,954	10,087
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,373	2,541	538	714	789	500	294	704
	Outflows	4,353	3,987	748	1,204	1,081	954	667	1,402
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	10,919	11,938	2,783	3,142	3,086	2,927	3,245	3,491
	Outflows	21,349	25,238	5,368	7,176	6,438	6,256	6,583	8,171
Other investment income	Inflows	3,677	3,862	979	1,129	1,204	550	1,527	1,541
	Outflows	2,136	3,284	562	761	946	1,015	704	514

Secondary Income	Inflows	2,056	1,860	514	493	393	460	464	256
	Outflows	2,070	1,880	520	498	398	464	468	279

Income balance	Net	-10,987	-14,284	-2,407	-4,186	-3,414	-4,277	-2,921	-4,401

Current Account - Total	Inflows	69,353	71,761	16,736	17,993	18,754	18,278	18,355	19,200
	Outflows	68,528	76,882	17,310	19,817	19,419	20,336	19,916	21,548

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	823	-5,122	-574	-1,825	-665	-2,058	-1,561	-2,348
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 Q2 2019 Table 3.1 (XLS 19KB)

Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with UK

Next Chapter >> Foreign Direct Investment

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with UK¹									€ million
		2017	2018	2018				2019
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2

Direct Investment	Abroad	2,010	2,342	-799	1,169	1,140	832	6,791	1,367
	In Ireland	4,661	-16,735	-3,801	1,479	-91	-14,322	4,053	3,790

Equity	Abroad	771	-237	-1,870	1,279	346	8	5,699	24
	In Ireland	1,463	-4,917	*	659	172	*	1,734	-1,519
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	1,984	2,035	515	347	734	439	237	681
	In Ireland	2,838	2,422	329	853	632	608	283	1,188
Other Capital	Abroad	-746	544	556	-457	61	384	854	662
	In Ireland	361	-14,241	*	-33	-896	*	2,036	4,122
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 Q2 2019

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with UK shows deficit of €2.3bn in Quarter 2 2019

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