New trade figures point to healthy Irish economy at onset of inflation crunch

A container ship steams down river toward Blackrock Castle in Cork. Trade across the Irish Sea with Britain appears to be on the mend.         

The Irish economy was showing signs of good health this summer, with an increase in both exports and imports despite the onset of the inflation crunch for households and businesses, new official figures suggest. 

The Central Statistics Office figures show that goods total exports to the world were up 28% to €120bn in first seven months of year from the same period last year, and total imports were also up, by 35%, to €77.2bn, which in part reflects surging global oil prices.