January sees a record trade surplus

The country recorded its largest ever trade surplus in the opening month of the year after an increase of €1.1bn on the December 2015 figure, but falling exports struck a note of warning as the year began.

The seasonally-adjusted trade surplus for January came in at €4.98bn; eclipsing December’s €3.87bn total.

The January figure beat the previous record month of August 2012 when the adjusted surplus totalled €4.69bn.