merrion street

Trade surplus up 11% in September to over €4billion

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today [Wednesday] welcomed the latest external trade figures published by the CSO, showing significant rises in exports in September despite difficulties in the global economy. The statistics show:

· an 11% increase in the trade surplus in September, month-on month

· for the month of September 2011 the trade surplus was at €4.113 billion, very close to the all-time high of €4.183billion achieved in June of this year

· a 4% increase in exports in the first eight months of the year, compared to the same period last year

Minister Bruton commented:

"If we are to see the recovery we are all working so hard to achieve, a strong export performance will be crucial. Clearly the current difficulties in the markets into which we export make this a lot more precarious. In that context, today's figures showing a continued strong export performance are extremely welcome.

"It goes without saying that given the global challenges, we must redouble our efforts if we are to sustain and improve this performance. I am determined to work hard along with my Department and colleagues across government to keep driving change to increase competitiveness, improve access to finance and encourage innovation so that our exports can lead a sustainable recovery across the economy".

These figures follow yesterday’s Eurostat data showing that for the period January – August, 2011, Ireland has the third largest trade surplus in absolute terms in the EU, after both Germany and (only very narrowly) behind the Netherlands. It was notable that many of the larger countries had very significant deficits.