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International Accounts Q4 2021

Accounts with the UK

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Current account with the UK shows surplus of €1.4bn in Quarter 4 2021

	Merchandise	Services	Income	Current Account
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
Q2 2021	0.085	4.177	-2.993	1.267
Q3 2021	0.071	3.963	-3.235	0.8
Q4 2021	-0.964	5.267	-2.896	1.407

Current account with the UK (See Table 3.1)

Merchandise exports were €7,206m in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of €1,221m compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.
Merchandise imports were €8,170m in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of €531m compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.
Services exports at €11,092m increased by €1,164m compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, mainly due to insurance and computer exports.
Services imports at €5,825m were down €236m over that same period in 2020, mainly due to lower levels of business and financial costs.
Investment income earned in the UK at €5,087m, decreased by €169m compared with one year earlier while investment income payable to UK investors at €8,022m increased by €1,013m.
When these effects are combined, the trade balance with the UK has increased by €2,089m and net income outflows have increased by €1,172m, compared with the fourth quarter of 2020. The result is a current account balance surplus of €1,407m in the fourth quarter of 2021, up from a current account balance of €490m in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The experimental table on foreign direct investment with the UK (See Table 3.2); shows that direct investment in Ireland from the UK has decreased by €915m in the fourth quarter of 2021. Direct investment abroad from Ireland to the UK has increased by €1,029m in the fourth quarter of 2021 mainly due to increases in other capital and reinvested earnings.

Table 3.1 Current Account with the UK

Table 3.1 Current Account with the UK											€ million
		2020	2021	2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4
Current Account
Merchandise¹	Exports	20,158	25,418	4,951	4,216	5,006	5,985	5,494	6,074	6,644	7,206
	Imports	23,785	24,921	5,607	4,967	5,572	7,639	4,189	5,989	6,573	8,170

of which: Merchanting (net export)	Exports	3,430	3,897	866	834	788	942	944	802	990	1,161

Services	Exports	35,119	39,695	8,433	8,026	8,732	9,928	8,922	9,751	9,930	11,092
	Imports	20,252	22,712	5,014	4,594	4,583	6,061	5,346	5,574	5,967	5,825
Transport	Exports	911	998	345	117	305	144	94	135	437	332
	Imports	648	713	164	130	151	203	133	176	176	228
Tourism and Travel²	Exports	286	103	179	29	34	44	12	16	36	39
	Imports	528	366	283	29	91	125	46	65	110	145
Insurance	Exports	1,944	2,591	545	487	447	465	553	635	557	846
	Imports	1,674	1,813	522	424	358	370	516	429	406	462
Financial services	Exports	6,992	7,921	1,472	1,651	1,806	2,063	1,910	2,037	2,002	1,972
	Imports	6,518	7,700	1,291	1,630	1,465	2,132	1,786	1,946	2,015	1,953
Royalties/Licences	Exports	396	538	85	78	89	144	93	102	127	216
	Imports	316	314	90	68	67	91	72	72	89	81
Computer services³	Exports	14,661	17,297	3,293	3,195	3,632	4,541	4,053	4,205	4,210	4,829
	Imports	240	346	46	59	67	68	53	81	111	101
Business services	Exports	4,633	4,768	1,254	1,053	1,046	1,280	1,046	1,178	1,226	1,318
	Imports	9,310	10,298	2,368	2,032	2,128	2,782	2,503	2,546	2,732	2,517
(of which: Operational leasing)	Exports	826	801	229	213	186	198	204	204	199	194
	Imports	145	144	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Other	Exports	5,296	5,479	1,258	1,416	1,374	1,248	1,161	1,442	1,335	1,541
	Imports	1,013	1,162	250	221	253	289	238	258	328	338

Merchandise and Services Total	Exports	55,278	65,112	13,384	12,242	13,738	15,914	14,416	15,824	16,574	18,298
	Imports	44,037	47,633	10,621	9,561	10,155	13,700	9,535	11,563	12,540	13,995

Trade balance	Net	11,242	17,480	2,763	2,681	3,584	2,214	4,881	4,261	4,035	4,303

Primary Income	Inflows	22,120	21,904	5,633	5,757	5,453	5,277	5,816	5,640	5,340	5,108
	Outflows	31,705	32,741	8,849	8,268	7,539	7,049	7,356	8,691	8,632	8,062
(of which : Investment Income)	Inflows	22,000	21,819	5,577	5,736	5,431	5,256	5,795	5,618	5,319	5,087
	Outflows	31,494	32,579	8,770	8,223	7,492	7,009	7,314	8,652	8,591	8,022
Direct investment income	Inflows	2,794	3,032	201	938	939	716	1,266	886	590	290
	Outflows	1,918	1,558	528	580	482	328	18	656	408	476
Portfolio investment income	Inflows	13,982	14,104	3,932	3,426	3,303	3,321	3,382	3,555	3,579	3,588
	Outflows	26,444	27,931	7,340	6,865	6,322	5,917	6,526	7,233	7,428	6,744
Other investment income	Inflows	5,225	4,682	1,444	1,373	1,189	1,219	1,146	1,177	1,150	1,209
	Outflows	3,132	3,089	903	778	687	764	770	763	755	801

Secondary Income	Inflows	1,688	1,684	503	377	418	390	306	350	505	523
	Outflows	1,489	1,454	449	328	370	342	249	292	448	465

Income balance	Net	-9,386	-10,607	-3,162	-2,462	-2,038	-1,724	-1,483	-2,993	-3,235	-2,896

Current Account - Total	Inflows	79,087	88,701	19,520	18,376	19,610	21,581	20,538	21,814	22,420	23,929
	Outflows	77,229	81,828	19,919	18,156	18,063	21,091	17,140	20,547	21,619	22,522

Current Account Balance with UK	Net	1,856	6,872	-399	219	1,546	490	3,398	1,267	800	1,407
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 Q4 2021 Table 3.1 (XLS 15KB)

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct Investment with the UK

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Table 3.2 Foreign Direct investment with the UK¹											€ million
		2020	2021	2020				2021
Item		Year		Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4	Quarter 1	Quarter 2	Quarter 3	Quarter 4

Direct Investment	Abroad	-1,706	2,307	-1,642	-586	-767	1,289	1,565	762	-1,049	1,029
	In Ireland	2,441	-139	1,023	1,534	-136	20	1,192	416	-832	-915

Equity	Abroad	8,432	-69	*	-1,127	*	389	-186	167	-195	145
	In Ireland	-3,768	*	-10	-2,466	-1,099	-193	93	336	-284	*
Reinvested Earnings	Abroad	2,086	1,992	38	785	807	456	1,123	769	-132	232
	In Ireland	22	*	-203	156	240	-171	-180	458	-399	*
Other Capital	Abroad	-12,224	385	*	-244	*	444	628	-173	-722	652
	In Ireland	6,185	9,788	1,236	3,843	723	383	1,279	-378	-150	9,037
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 Q4 2021

Accounts with the UK

Accounts with the UK

Current account with the UK shows surplus of €1.4bn in Quarter 4 2021

Current account with the UK (See Table 3.1)

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