Exports key to growth despite dip

EXPORT performance is still expected to be the main driver of growth in the Irish economy next year, despite latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showing a significant fall in value in October and a near €1 billion dip in the country’s overall trade surplus.

October saw Ireland’s trade surplus fall to just under €2.95bn, down from the €3.7bn registered in September. This was on the back of a 14% rolling month-by-month fall in the value of Irish exports; after September had shown an 11% increase on August. On an annualised basis, the value of exports fell by 15% in October. Import value, meanwhile, was down 30%, year-on-year and by 7% on a month-by-month basis.

The latest external trade data from the CSO also detailed performance for the first nine months of the year. During that time – on a year-on-year basis – Irish export value fell by €35 million to €64.43bn; the export of goods to Britain and Germany decreasing, but increasing to the US. For the same timeframe, import value was down by €10.25bn at €33.84bn. During that period, imports to Ireland from Britain and Germany and China were down but incoming goods from the US were up by nearly 20%, year-on-year.