Institutional Sector Accounts Non-Financial and Financial 2017

The flow of private sector credit (defined as the sum of consolidated transactions in Table 2.6 - F.3 Debt Securities and F.4 Loans) was -7.5% of GDP during 2017. As shown in Figure 3.2, this was well within the threshold of +14% set under the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure. A positive credit flow equates to a net incurrence of debt during the year whereas a negative sign indicates a net running-down of debt during the same accounting period. The negative credit flows occurring in the household sector since 2008, cumulatively amounting to €47.8bn, correspond to a net repayment, primarily, of mortgage related debt.

A breakdown of the non-financial corporations sector (S.11) financial balance sheet showing large multinational enterprises (MNEs) is presented in Table 2.9.

The total liabilities of the large MNE group, relative to the size of the sector, can be seen in Figure 3.3 (2012-2017). In 2017, large MNEs make up 27.2% of the NFC sector. Note that the percentage of large MNEs is 14.9% in 2014 and increases to 26.5% in 2015, this is related to the increase of capital assets in Ireland in 2015, as discussed above.

Figure 3.4 shows the net financial worth (BF.90) for S.11 proportioned by large MNEs and other non-financial corporations (2012-2017). The trend shows that prior to 2015 much of the net financial worth can be attributed to entities that are not classed as large MNEs (88.1% in 2014), while the substantial change that occurs during 2015 is largely attributed to this large MNE group (increasing from 11.9% in 2014 to 48.2% in 2015 of the total net financial worth). In 2017 this proportion stands at 51.0%.

¹Defined as the sum of consolidated stock positions of Table 2.8 - AF.3 Debt Securities and AF.4 Loans.

²Defined as the sum of the S.11 non-financial corporations sector and the S.14 + S.15 households and non-profit institutions serving households sector.