TYPE year Data

Exports

Imports

Jan-Dec 2007

Jan-Sep 2008

Jan-Dec 2007

Jan-Sep 2008

sitc2 € 000 Tonnes € 000 Tonnes € 000 Tonnes € 000 Tonnes 00 2,076 43 7 1 770 3 13 11 01 587 125 410 74 21 6

02 6,898 2,424 14,554 4,416

03 17 4 0 0 46 11 73 4 04 25 2 25 14

05 5,612 640 2,974 741 2,346 1,228 3,645 2,392 06 141 43 141 62

15 52 07 921 48 163 19 10 1 1 0 08 340 220 129 118

09 241,290 22,816 130,574 16,764 0 0 125 4 11 6,380 1,106 3,908 418 54 8 247 6 12 3 0 1 0

22

0 0

23

2 0

24

31 22

25 65 450 20 35

0 0 26 628 260 581 135 11 3 0 0 27 12 22 1,196 503 11 10 31 42 28 4 2

29 259 48 727 3,274 0 0 0 0 32 199 376 149 1,111

33 73 9 3 1 83,962 166,867 61 70 34 68 10 148 15

42

13 21 51 6,725 90 8,061 1,558

3 0 52 26 10 1,990 560 385 1,071 18 35 53 918 153 97 33 3 3 0 0 54 57,349 1,801 50,751 1,589 195 3 313 8 55 47,009 2,468 114,341 2,791 683 282 452 174 56 56 282 71 287 2,377 1,231

57 986 169 1,001 240 1,002 810 593 413 58 431 38 314 29 529 164 197 80 59 1,631 145 4,059 831 94 60 60 40 61 152 34 6 0 9 0 1 0 62 551 7 434 10 215 55 252 77 63 1,336 2,270 69 66 50 3 31 5 64 214 43 526 65 141 42 131 87 65 361 21 519 33 268 19 119 26 66 1,339 1,063 169 12 704 1,255 50 64 67 175 20 152 14 164 191 9 0 68 82 10 21 2 12 1 48 23 69 3,835 359 3,108 794 4,775 5,404 1,203 651 71 6,406 34 880 37 906 20 1,224 20 72 4,339 696 7,662 1,772 480 96 140 5 73 115 4 284 9 1 0 0 0 74 31,440 1,983 32,400 2,839 291 77 183 38 75 240,089 1,749 119,990 1,041 756 4 1,093 7 76 52,987 312 100,320 480 3,312 7 59 0 77 21,164 364 19,986 370 10,362 338 6,842 255 78 215 49 345 187 22 3 8 0 79 4,152 76 5,548 29 9,121 26 10,714 36 81 1,746 102 1,161 87 176 272 24 19 82 391 47 456 56 2,163 1,247 1,664 902 83 23 4 3 0 13 0 22 1 84 152 0 225 5 2,315 60 1,028 38 85 8 0

8 0 2 0 87 9,882 78 7,553 47 89 0 77 0 88 1,372 22 761 17 286 4 0 0 89 21,767 515 22,492 284 2,875 639 580 105 93 102 0 33 1 1 0 1 0 97

1 0 0 0 1 0 99

11 0 Grand Total 785,124 43,666 661,501 43,876 132,045 181,546 31,377 5,711 ]]> http://www.irelandgulf.org/?feed=rss2&p=359 http://www.irelandgulf.org/?p=350 http://www.irelandgulf.org/?p=350#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:35:02 +0000 admin http://irelandgulf.org/1/?p=350 Region/Country 2007

Exports Imports Net

Algeria 15 6 9 Antigua and Barbuda * 0 * Argentina 35 3 32 Australia 597 475 122 Austria 423 266 157 Bahamas 37 0 37 Bahrain 22 0 22 Barbados 22 58 -36 Belgium 1,180 1,574 -394 Bermuda 898 2,492 -1,594 Brazil 100 12 88 British Virgin Islands * * -154 Bulgaria * * -26 Canada 574 278 296 Cayman Islands 471 63 408 Chile 26 4 22 China 2,127 126 2,001 Colombia 32 1 31 Congo 10 0 10 Costa Rica 0 0 0 Côte d`Ivoire * * * Croatia * * 22 Cyprus * * -17 Czech Republic 333 125 208 Denmark 640 342 298 Egypt 91 21 70 El Salvador * 0 * Estonia 41 14 27 Ethiopia * 0 * Finland 435 141 294 France 4,052 3,300 752 Germany 6,507 3,804 2,703 Gibraltar * * 15 Greece 177 128 49 Guernsey 37 25 12 Hong Kong 181 132 49 Hungary 258 95 163 Iceland * * 123 India 359 89 270 Indonesia 50 9 41 Isle of Man 26 * * Israel 187 66 121 Italy 4,202 2,107 2,095 Jamaica 17 8 9 Japan 888 569 319 Jersey * * -9 Jordan * * 22 Kazakhstan * * 35 Kenya * * 32 Korea, Republic of (South Korea) 582 40 542 Kuwait * 1 * Latvia * * 62 Lebanon * * 12 Liechtenstein * * * Lithuania * * * Luxembourg 823 2,080 -1,257 Malaysia 59 14 45 Malta * * -9 Mexico 89 15 74 Morocco * * 22 Namibia * * * Netherlands 2,565 2,649 -84 Netherlands Antilles 74 0 74 New Zealand 51 14 37 Nigeria 53 17 36 Norway 505 178 327 Pakistan 26 0 26 Panama * 3 * Philippines 49 5 44 Poland 725 251 474 Portugal 651 464 187 Qatar 37 0 37 Romania 105 30 75 Russian Federation 1,023 167 856 Saudi Arabia 158 27 131 Serbia and Montenegro2 * * * Sierra Leone 0 0 0 Singapore 304 113 191 Slovakia 117 25 92 Slovenia 45 23 22 South Africa 582 253 329 Spain 1,878 1,887 -9 Sweden 1,281 461 820 Switzerland 1,296 598 698 Taiwan, Province of China 482 51 431 Thailand 21 7 14 Tokelau * * * Tunisia * * 13 Turkey 259 76 183 Ukraine * * 78 United Arab Emirates 300 76 224 United Kingdom 14,466 11,733 2,733 United States 5,841 23,961 -18,120 Uruguay 8 0 8 Venezuela 18 2 16 International Organisations 39 1 38 Not geographically allocated 2 4,648 6,528 -1,880 Marginal trade 3 128 55 73

World total 65,650 68,519 -2,869 1 During 2006 Serbia and Montenegro became independent countries. For presentational purposes they are not shown separately in this table

2 This category covers data supplied by respondents without a geographical breakdown

3 Subtotal for countries for which exports and imports are less than €10m

* Suppressed for confidentiality reasons but included in world total

]]> http://www.irelandgulf.org/?feed=rss2&p=350 http://www.irelandgulf.org/?p=121 http://www.irelandgulf.org/?p=121#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:11:49 +0000 admin http://irelandgulf.org/1/?p=121

The economy of Ireland has transformed in recent years from an agricultural focus to a modern knowledge economy, focusing on services and high-tech industries and dependent on trade, industry and investment. Economic growth in Ireland averaged a (relatively high) 10% from 1995–2000, and 7% from 2001–2004. Industry, which accounts for 46% of GDP, about 80% of exports, and 29% of the labour force, now takes the place of agriculture as the country’s leading sector.

Exports play a fundamental role in Ireland’s growth, but the economy also benefits from the accompanying rise in consumer spending, construction, and business investment. On paper, the country is the largest exporter of software-related goods and services in the world. In fact, a lot of foreign software, and sometimes music, is filtered through the country to avail of Ireland’s non-taxing of royalties from copyrighted goods.

A key part of economic policy, since 1987, has been Social Partnership which is a neo-corporatist set of voluntary ‘pay pacts’ between the Government, employers and trades unions. These usually set agreed pay rises for three-year periods.

Ireland joined in launching the Euro currency system in January 1999 (leaving behind the Irish pound) along with eleven other EU nations. The 1995 to 2000 period of high economic growth led many to call the country the Celtic Tiger. The economy felt the impact of the global economic slowdown in 2001, particularly in the high-tech export sector — the growth rate in that area was cut by nearly half. GDP growth continued to be relatively robust, with a rate of about 6% in 2001 and 2002. Growth for 2004 was over 4%, and for 2005 was 4.7%.

With high growth came high levels of inflation, particularly in the capital city. Prices in Dublin, where nearly 30% of Ireland’s population lives, are considerably higher than elsewhere in the country,^[27] especially in the property market (but property prices are falling rapidly following the recent downturn in the World economy and its knock-on effects on Ireland). At the end of July 2008, the annual rate of inflation was running at 4.4% (as measured by the CPI) or 3.6% (as measured by the HICP)^[28][29] and inflation actually dropped slightly from the previous month.

Measuring Ireland’s level of income per capita is a complicated issue. Ireland possesses the second highest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world (US$43,600 as of 2006), behind Luxembourg, and the fifth highest Human Development Index, which is calculated partially on the basis of GDP per capita. Another measure, Gross National Income per head, takes account of this and therefore many economists feel it is a superior measure of income in the country. In 2005, the World Bank measured Ireland’s GNI per head at $41,140 - the seventh highest in the world, sixth highest in Western Europe, and the third highest of any EU member state. Also, a study by The Economist found Ireland to have the best quality of life in the world.^[30] This study employed GDP per capita as a measure of income rather than GNI per capita.

The positive reports and economic statistics mask several underlying imbalances. The construction sector, which is inherently cyclical in nature, now accounts for a significant component of Ireland’s GDP. A recent downturn in residential property market sentiment has highlighted the over-exposure of the Irish economy to construction, which now presents a threat to economic growth.^[31][32][33] Several successive years of economic growth have led to an increase in inequality^[3] in Irish society (see Economy of Ireland - Recent developments) and a decrease in poverty.^[34] Ireland’s Gini coefficient measure of income inequality is 30.4, slightly below the OECD average of 30.7.^[3] Figures show that 6.8% of Ireland’s population suffer “consistent poverty”.^[35]

In 2002 The Republic of Ireland introduced the single European currency, the euro. With 14 other EU member states it forms the Eurozone.

However, after a construction boom in the last decade, economic growth is now slowing. There has been a significant fall in house prices and the cost of living is beginning to stabilise, after rising every year during the economic boom. It is now said the Irish economy is rebalancing itself. During the boom, Ireland had developed a reputation as one of the most expensive countries in Europe. The ESRI predicts that the Irish economy will not grow this year at all and may retract by -0.5% in 2008, down hugely from 4.7% growth in 2007, but expects economic growth to near 2% again in 2009 and near 4% in 2010.^[36] The huge reduction in construction has caused Ireland’s massive economic downturn, if construction was not included in the economic outlook Ireland would still grow by about 2.5% however this is the first time in over 2 decades that the ESRI has applied the term recession to the Irish economy. Ireland now has the second-highest level of household debt in the world, at 190% of household income.^[37]

Ireland is currently (2008) ranked as the world’s third most economically free economy in an index created by the Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom.