Xifres de comerç exterior d'Irlanda

Foreign Trade in Figures

Ireland is a very open economy, and therefore very dependent on the international economic situation and vulnerable to external shocks. Trade accounted for 229% of GDP in 2021 (World Bank). Ireland’s main imports are aircrafts, biological materials, medicine, automatic data-processing machines, oil and petroleum products and automobiles. The country exports mainly biological materials, medicines, industrial raw materials, electronic parts and medical devices. In 2022, despite the war in Ukraine, the volume of exports of goods and services increased by 10.6% compared to 2020. Similarly, imports increased by 10% (IMF). The IMF forecasts a more moderate increase of exports in 2023 (+5.8%) and 2024 (+5%) and a similar trend for imports (+6.4% in 2023 and +5.4% in 2024).

Ireland's main trading partners are the European Union (the United Kingdom is the main market for imports and the forth largest for exports), the United States, China and Switzerland. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) raises many questions around the future relations between Ireland and its main trade partner. Irish exports are expected to slow down and to suffer from a depreciated sterling pound. The recently introduced higher corporate tax rates may also prompt multinational companies to delocalise.

The Irish trade balance is structurally in surplus. According to the WTO, in 2021 Ireland exported goods with a record total value of USD 190.3 billion, while it imported goods worth USD 119.5 billion. The country exported for 337.8 billion USD of services in 2021, and imported for a value of 341.5 billion USD. According to the Central Statistics Office data, trade balance in goods reached a surplus of EUR 64.8 billion during the 11 months from January to November 2022.