Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 May 1991

Vol. 409 No. 1

Written Answers. - Balance of Payments.

Michael Creed

Ceist:

33 Mr. Creed asked the Taoiseach the overall amount and balance of payments for each year since 1980; and if he will outline the key elements in the balance of payments.

The Taoiseach

The following table shows the information sought by the Deputy, estimates for the year 1990 will be available by end June 1991:

Balance of International Payments (1980-1989) Table 1a — Current Account

Item		1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
		£million
1. Merchandise(1)	Cr	4,004	4,789	5,592	6,813	8,696	9,527	9,181	10,447	12,073	14,358
	Db	-5,346	-6,487	-6,712	-7,334	-8,893	-9,390	-8,746	-9,137	-10,048	-12,114
2. International freight	Cr	54	61	86	87	98	104	89	93	81	77
3. Other transportation
3.1 Passenger fare receipts	Cr	87	109	121	130	149	167	157	167	187	232
3.2 Other	Cr	132	143	168	205	242	258	270	303	304	309
	Db	-144	-165	-195	-246	-271	-267	-271	-279	-262	-276
4. Tourism and travel(2)	Cr	282	308	355	390	442	518	492	564	655	751
	Db	-283	-319	-347	-363	-378	-402	-511	-556	-630	-698
5. Other services	Cr	79	94	112	127	143	165	163	211	232	263
	Db	-127	-146	-160	-221	-274	-338	-333	-496	-625	-600
6. Remuneration of employees	Cr	9	11	11	12	12	13	16	16	16	16
7. Trading and investment income	Cr	465	567	585	549	692	794	732	766	920	1,256
	Db	-832	-1,083	-1,523	-1,745	-2,343	-2,773	-2,705	-2,740	-3,478	-4,311
Components of debit tiem:
Profits, dividends, royalties, etc.(3)		-258	-362	-499	-659	-983	-1,321	-1,320	-1,307	-1,908	-2,337
National debt interest		-193	-266	-526	-597	-720	-795	-761	-804	-894	-973
Other(4)		-381	-455	-499	-490	-641	-657	-624	-629	-676	-1,001
8. International transfers	Cr	696	661	766	902	1,071	1,319	1,366	1,322	1,408	1,526
	Db	-115	-137	-173	-231	-333	-346	-409	-444	-397	-418
9. Net balance on current account		-1,038	-1,595	-1,316	-925	-945	-650	-509	239	437	371

(1)Adjusted for balance of payments purposes

(2)Excluding passenger fare receipts

(3)Including associated interest flows

(4)Including semi-state and bank interest flows

Table 1b — Capital Account and Net Residual

Item	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
	£million
10. Private capital	332	277	285	87	-138	-108	-407	-723	-826	-1,870
10.1 Semi-state companies	341	232	282	184	91	19	32	-43	-116	83
10.2 Direct investment	139	127	170	135	110	150	30
10.3 Other	-148	82	-167	-231	338	-277	-408	-680	-710	-1,953
10.3 Other	-148	82	-167	-231	338	-277	-408
11. Official capital	569	1,197	1,221	713	854	1,029	1,198	1,231	523	964
11.1 Exchequer foreign borrowing	547	1,235	1,115	749	594	855	899	405	-282	-50
11.2 Irish Government securities	17	-30	-18	35	121	83	240	460	867	1,320
11.3 Other	5	-7	124	-71	139	91	60	366	-62	-307
12. Banking transactions	425	12	132	606	368	286	554	-79	365	-186
12.1 Associated banks	224	-41	166	443	222	222	-217	-178	306	-493
12.2 Other Banks	259	122	55	287	209	-97	677	-66	44	146
12.3 Other financial institutions	-2	-3	-3	5	0	0	22	75	110	115
12.4 Counterpart to valuation changes	-57	-65	-86	-129	-63	161	72	90	-95	46
13. Official external reserves(1)	-347	-9	-91	-227	33	-196	72	-606	-352	640
13.1 Reserve position in the IMF	-10	1	0	-36	-8	4	-9	0	-3	8
13.2 Gold	0	-68	5	-25	5	12	1	-8	8	6
13.3 SDR holdings	0	-14	-4	8	-24	9	-11	-12	-7	-10
13.4 Other external assets	-361	-47	-122	-368	-59	-196	86	-597	-337	636
13.5 Counterpart to valuation changes	15	108	30	194	119	-25	6	11	-13	0
13.6 Counterpart to allocation of SDRs	10	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14. Net balance on capital account	979	1,478	1,548	1,178	1,118	1,011	1,418	-176	-290	-453
Net residual(2)	59	117	-232	-253	-172	-361	-908	-63	-147	82

(1) Computed on a transactions basis i.e. change in total reserves less valuation changes and allocations of SDRs: N.B. minus equals net increase increase in reserves

(2) Balance of current and capital accounts