The household saving rate was 10.08% in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023, down from 11.05% in the second quarter.
This decline in the saving rate comes after two quarters of increase.
This is the lowest saving rate for four years, however, it is in the normal range for the pre-pandemic period.
The Gross Value Added of Non-Financial Corporations, which drives Ireland's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was €97.3bn, down €6.6bn in Q3 2023, mainly due to reduced contract manufacturing by foreign-controlled non-financial corporations.
Ireland's Gross National Income (GNI) was €104bn, up €11bn on the same quarter of 2022, an increase owing largely to income of Non-Financial Corporations on their investments abroad.
The government surplus was €821m in the quarter, less than half what it was in the same period last year, an effect of volatile corporation tax receipts.
Ireland had a current account surplus of €21bn in the quarter, due to investment income inflows of corporations and continuing saving by households and government.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (11 January 2024) released the Institutional Sector Accounts Non-Financial for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023.
Commenting on the release, Peter Culhane, Statistician in the National Accounts Analysis & Globalisation Division of the CSO, said:
"The household saving rate was 10.08% in July, August, and September (Q3) 2023, down on the second quarter of the year. The saving rate declined during 2021-2022 from its pandemic high of 32.36% in 2020 before rising in early 2023 to 11.05%, but has fallen again.
Average wages are rising but not as fast as inflation and even though there are more people in work, Total Disposable Income is largely flat once we adjust for price changes.
Inflation led to more household spending, but there was also a slightly greater volume of consumption of goods and services in the quarter.
Overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was lower, due largely to the foreign-dominated Manufacturing sector. We can see from our transactions with the rest of the world that contract manufacturing (that is, production carried out abroad by a third party on goods owned by corporations resident here), which made up over a third of our exports in Q3 2022, has halved this quarter. This contributed significantly to the fall in GDP.
The Government sector had a surplus of €821m, down on the same quarter last year, owing to lower corporation tax receipts.
Continuing saving by all sectors contributed to a current account surplus for Ireland in the quarter."