Irish-owned and foreign firms which receive State aid spent more than £23.6 billion (€30 billion) in the Republic's economy in 1998, the industrial development advisory board Forfas said yesterday.
The body, which co-ordinates IDA Ireland and Enterprise, said its latest survey on the impact of spending by firms which receive State grants indicated that expenditure rose by £1.95 billion or 9 per cent in 1998 over the previous year.
The survey assessed information from firms in three sectors: manufacturing; food processing and related areas; and internationally traded services.
Companies in these sectors spent £5.5 billion on wages, salaries and related costs in 1998, 8.5 per cent more than in 1997. Spending on raw materials rose 6.7 per cent to £9.9 billion and expenditure on Irish services rose 10.8 per cent to £.6.5 billion, the survey said.
"Irish-owned manufacturing companies exported 49 per cent of their total exports to the United Kingdom in 1998, up slightly from 48 per cent recorded in 1997. Exports to the UK represented 19.1 per cent of total sales of these companies in 1998," said Forfas.
The profitability of Irish-owned manufacturing firms rose to 6 per cent of sales from 5.3 per cent sales in the year. "Sectors which exhibited a level of profitability as a percentage of sales above the average for general manufacturing in 1998, include printing and publishing (13.9 per cent), rubber and plastics (11 per cent), chemicals (10.1 per cent) and fabricated metals (9.8 per cent)."
Irish-owned companies accounted for 30.7 per cent of sales but contributed 49.5 per cent of Irish economy expenditures. Spending in the Republic by such companies increased by 11.6 per cent, or £806 million, in 1998. Irish economy expenditures by all manufacturing firms rose by £981 million to £19.5 billion in the year.
Asked why data from 1998 was published only yesterday, a Forfas spokesman said data from the survey was compiled on a business-by-business basis. The survey was usually presented a year later, he said. "It takes that length of time to collect the survey data and to collate it."
