There was a deficit of £669 million (euro 852 million) on the current account of the balance of payments in the first quarter of 2001, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office this morning.
This compares with a marginal deficit of £54 million in the same period in 2000. Combined surpluses for merchandise (£6,066 million) and current transfers (£102 million) were exceeded by deficits on services and income of £3,328 million and £3,509 million, respectively.
The merchandise trade balance of £6,066 million in the first quarter of this year was about £1.7 billion higher than that in the same quarter last year. Over the same period, exports rose from £14,059 million to £17,477 million, and imports rose from £9,675 million to £11,411 million.
In the first quarter of this year, services exports amounted to £3,665 million with imports at £6,993 million; the corresponding flows for the same quarter in 2000 were £2,719 million and £4,637 million.
The deficit in the first quarter of this year, therefore, increased from £1,918 million to £3,328 million.
The most notable feature within services is the increase in imports of business services (mostly sales commissions and management charges) from £1,675 million to £3,241 million between the two quarters. Royalties outflows increased by about £0.5 billion to £1,925 million.
The 1999 and 2000 annual and quarterly balance of payments data published on April 19th, 2001, have been revised following later returns and more up-to-date information generally.
As a result, the annual current account balance for 1999 now shows a surplus of £262 million (previously £446 million) while the corresponding balance for 2000 shows a deficit of £535 million