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International Accounts Q4 2018

Goods and Services

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Trade balance of €19.6bn in Q4 2018

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2017	45.963	32.134
Q2 2017	45.793	31.03
Q3 2017	48.427	28.921
Q4 2017	52.671	30.454
Q1 2018	48.485	33.514
Q2 2018	52.283	35.482
Q3 2018	51.403	33.929
Q4 2018	56.066	37.387

Ireland’s Trade Balance at €19.6bn, all goods and services exports less all goods and services imports, decreased by €6.5bn in the fourth quarter of 2018, over the same period in 2017.

Merchandise exports were €56bn in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of €3.4bn compared with the fourth quarter of 2017.

	Goods	of which International Trade
Q1 2017	20.931	18.639
Q2 2017	22.248	20.519
Q3 2017	19.512	17.278
Q4 2017	22.523	20.241
Q1 2018	21.407	19.327
Q2 2018	23.306	20.506
Q3 2018	25.025	22.566
Q4 2018	28.804	24.776

Merchandise imports were €28.8bn in the fourth quarter of 2018, an increase of €6.3bn compared with the same period in 2017.

	Q4 2018	Q4 2017
Computer Services	25.733	19.935
Business Services	11.034	9.654
Financial Services	3.735	4.043
Royalties/Licences	2.831	2.905
Insurance	2.345	2.593
Transport	1.597	1.65
Tourism and Travel	1.073	1.069
Repairs and Processing	0.517	0.577
Other Services n.e.s.	0.492	1.15
Communications	0.128	0.152

Service exports at €49.5bn increased by €5.8bn compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, mainly due to higher computer services exports.

	Q4 2018	Q4 2017
Business Services	26.352	19.374
Royalties/Licences	19.593	18
Financial Services	3.305	3.486
Repairs and Processing	2.099	1.501
Insurance	1.676	1.855
Tourism and Travel	1.417	1.267
Computer Services	1.374	1.157
Transport	0.881	0.671
Communications	0.277	0.308
Other Services n.e.s.	0.143	0.142

Service imports at €57bn were up €9.4bn over the same period in 2017. These figures were largely affected by increased payments for R&D services, which are part of business services.

	Royalties/Licenses Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2017	1.783	0.046	0.177
Q2 2017	1.974	0.045
Q3 2017	2.946	0.045
Q4 2017	2.905	0.048	1.069
Q1 2018	2.716	0.03	1.121
Q2 2018	3.464	0.014	1.406
Q3 2018	3.191	0.013	1.009
Q4 2018	2.831	0.013	0.606

Please note: In Q2 2017 and Q3 2017, the figures for Royalties/Licences of which Information and Communication have been suppressed due to confidentiality requirements.

	Royalties/Licenses Exports	of which Pharmaceutical	of which Information and Communication
Q1 2017	16.69	4.475	7.888
Q2 2017	16.7	4.544	8.315
Q3 2017	15.198	3.486	7.752
Q4 2017	18	3.393	10.15
Q1 2018	16.237	2.873	8.845
Q2 2018	17.869	3.474	9.768
Q3 2018	17.896	2.954	10.234
Q4 2018	19.593	3.229	11.748

Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports

Table 2.2 Breakdown of Services Exports and Imports											€ million
		2017	2018	2017				2018
Item				Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Services	Exports	159,701	175,571	36,234	39,477	40,262	43,728	38,205	42,118	45,764	49,484
	Imports	178,054	185,813	41,591	49,120	39,581	47,762	39,455	44,088	45,154	57,116
Repairs and Processing	Exports	2,254	1,699	527	545	605	577	476	370	336	517
	Imports	4,855	5,541	1,169	1,136	1,049	1,501	1,077	1,092	1,273	2,099
Transport	Exports	8,086	7,768	1,190	2,147	3,099	1,650	1,228	2,111	2,832	1,597
	Imports	2,540	2,935	623	663	583	671	642	678	734	881
Tourism and Travel¹	Exports	4,972	5,237	708	1,433	1,762	1,069	817	1,500	1,847	1,073
	Imports	5,814	6,328	1,077	1,407	2,063	1,267	1,239	1,566	2,106	1,417
Insurance	Exports	9,913	9,544	2,496	2,451	2,373	2,593	2,526	2,398	2,275	2,345
	Imports	7,079	7,668	1,734	1,801	1,689	1,855	2,088	1,998	1,906	1,676
Financial services	Exports	15,309	15,175	3,764	3,637	3,865	4,043	3,886	3,784	3,770	3,735
	Imports	13,246	13,274	3,278	3,162	3,320	3,486	3,386	3,307	3,276	3,305
Royalties/Licences	Exports	9,608	12,202	1,783	1,974	2,946	2,905	2,716	3,464	3,191	2,831
	Imports	66,588	71,595	16,690	16,700	15,198	18,000	16,237	17,869	17,896	19,593
of which: Pharmaceutical products and preparations	Exports	184	70	46	45	45	48	30	14	13	13
	Imports	15,898	12,530	4,475	4,544	3,486	3,393	2,873	3,474	2,954	3,229
Information and communication	Exports	2,472	4,142	177	*	*	1,069	1,121	1,406	1,009	606
	Imports	34,105	40,595	7,888	8,315	7,752	10,150	8,845	9,768	10,234	11,748
Communications	Exports	617	555	156	157	152	152	147	142	138	128
	Imports	1,145	1,087	256	289	292	308	268	268	274	277
Computer services²	Exports	69,323	85,695	15,851	17,045	16,492	19,935	18,477	20,211	21,274	25,733
	Imports	3,353	4,384	550	787	859	1,157	839	1,086	1,085	1,374
Business services	Exports	37,075	35,652	9,304	9,547	8,570	9,654	7,445	7,895	9,278	11,034
	Imports	72,868	72,433	16,073	23,033	14,388	19,374	13,536	16,082	16,463	26,352
Research and development	Exports	4,907	2,709	1,178	1,161	1,041	1,527	537	540	517	1,115
	Imports	26,832	23,629	5,866	12,192	3,297	5,477	3,403	3,944	4,232	12,050
of which: IP related	Exports	3,086	*	*	*	586	1,162	50	13	12	*
	Imports	14,034	7,460	2,839	9,139	*	*	104	*	67	*
Operational leasing	Exports	13,105	12,586	3,295	3,225	3,357	3,228	2,994	3,022	3,206	3,364
	Imports	696	542	304	143	131	118	122	124	154	142
Misc. business services³	Exports	19,062	20,357	4,830	5,161	4,172	4,899	3,914	4,334	5,555	6,554
	Imports	45,340	48,263	9,903	10,697	10,960	13,780	10,012	12,014	12,077	14,160
Other services n.e.s.	Exports	2,546	2,047	456	541	399	1,150	488	244	823	492
	Imports	564	567	140	142	140	142	141	142	141	143
¹Under the credit item, passenger fare receipts of resident carriers from foreign visitors are excluded; such receipts are included under transport credits - see Background Notes.
²Covers 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.
³Covers mainly advertising and inter-affiliate management charges.

Open in Excel: International Accounts Q4 2018 Table 2.2 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 2.1 Breakdown of Merchandise Exports and Imports											€ million
		2017	2018	2017				2018
Item				Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	192,854	208,237	45,963	45,793	48,427	52,671	48,485	52,283	51,403	56,066
	Imports	85,214	98,542	20,931	22,248	19,512	22,523	21,407	23,306	25,025	28,804

International trade	Exports	122,539	140,312	32,134	31,030	28,921	30,454	33,514	35,482	33,929	37,387
	Imports	76,677	87,175	18,639	20,519	17,278	20,241	19,327	20,506	22,566	24,776
Goods for processing	Exports	64,668	62,521	15,672	12,985	15,872	20,139	13,821	14,855	16,276	17,569
	Imports	5,575	8,693	1,601	975	1,508	1,491	1,629	2,087	1,756	3,221
Other conceptual adjustments	Exports	-1,947	-2,150	-4,096	-203	2,307	45	-721	165	-361	-1,233
	Imports	2,961	2,674	690	753	727	791	451	714	703	806
Merchanting (net export)	Exports	7,593	7,554	2,253	1,980	1,327	2,033	1,871	1,781	1,559	2,343
¹Adjusted for balance of payments purposes.

International Accounts Q4 2018

Goods and Services

Goods and Services

Trade balance of €19.6bn in Q4 2018

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