Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 0.7% (See Editor’s Note below).
Total Exports expanded by 7.0% in Q1 2024 (+€11.4 billion), with Services Exports increasing by 6.6% (+€6.6 billion).
Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), a broad measure of underlying domestic activity that covers personal, government, and investment spending, went up by 1.0% in Q1 2024.
Personal spending on goods and services, a key measure of domestic economic activity, grew by 0.3% in the quarter.
The updated estimated GDP figure for Q1 2024 Final rose by 0.7%. This compares with a Preliminary GDP Estimate published on 29 April 2024 that indicated an increase of 1.1% for the quarter and the QNA Q1 Provisional estimate of 0.9% published on 06 June 2024. The reason for the revision is that the updated GDP estimate for Q1 2024 of 0.7% includes new information, including data published today in the Annual National Accounts 2023 (ANA 2023), in particular for PCE, Exports, Imports, and sectors including Information & Communication, Public Administration, Education & Health, Financial & Insurance services, Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants, and Manufacturing Industry. This year, 2024, is a Benchmark revision year for National Accounts purposes across EU Member States. Benchmark revisions for Ireland are incorporated in the ANA 2023 and Q1 2024 Final results. Additionally, today’s result is based on both Expenditure and Output data, while the Preliminary estimate, published as a CSO Frontier Series Output, was based predominantly on economic Output data.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (12 July 2024) published Quarterly National Accounts and International Accounts results for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2024, following on from the QNA Q1 2024 Provisional issued on 06 June 2024.
Assistant Director General with responsibility for Economic Statistics, Christopher Sibley, said:
“In today’s results, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 0.7% in January, February, and March (Q1) 2024. For Gross National Product (GNP) – a measure of economic activity that excludes the profits of multinationals – a fall of 7.0% is estimated for the quarter.
The globalised Industry (excl. Construction) sector contracted by 5.7% in Q1 2024 compared with Q4 2023 while the Information & Communication sector posted an increase of 1.2% over the same period. Overall, the combined multinational-dominated elements of the Industry and Information & Communication sectors declined by 5.5% in the quarter, the third consecutive quarter of decline. These sectors accounted for 43.5% of total value added in the economy, compared with a 56.5% share for all other sectors.
Domestic Economy
There was a mixed picture for sectors focused on the domestic market, but with overall growth of 1.1% for the sectors combined. The Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants sector grew by 3.1% in the quarter while the Arts & Entertainment sector expanded by 2.9% compared with Q4 2023. The Professional, Administrative & Support sector increased by 2.7% in Q1 2024 compared with Q4 2023 with the Finance & Insurance sector up by 1.0% quarter-on-quarter. Public Administration, Education & Health rose by 0.7% in the quarter. However, there were contractions in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing, Real Estate and Construction in Q1 2024 of 2.6%, 2.0%, and 1.1% respectively.
Expenditure in the Economy
Looking at expenditure, investment in capital formation fell by 39.7% or €15.8 billion reflecting the lower levels of investment in Intangible Assets compared with the previous quarter. Net exports of Goods & Services rose by 76.4% in Q1 2024 or by €20.2 billion. Personal spending on goods and services (the PCE indicator) increased by 0.3% in the quarter while Government spending on goods and services fell by 1.6% in Q1 2024.
Impact of Globalisation and the Indicators of Underlying Domestic Activity
Final Domestic Demand (FDD), a measure of personal, government, and investment spending, decreased by 18.0% in Q1 2024, reflecting the lower levels of investment in Intangible Assets compared with the previous quarter. In Q1 2024, the Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) indicator increased by 1.0%. MDD is an important measure of underlying demand and excludes Intellectual Property Products (IPP) and aircraft leasing-related globalisation effects from the standard Final Domestic Demand measure.”