In this week’s public policy bulletin, read about record high exports and imports for Ireland in 2021, the proposed digital euro currency, as well as positive news from the Department of Finance’s latest SME credit demand survey. We also cover Northern Ireland’s latest Labour Market report, which shows employment levels are bouncing back.
Central Statistics Office releases goods exports and imports data for 2021
Exports of goods from Ireland hit an all-time high of €165 billion in 2021, an increase of just over €3 billion from the previous year. Medical and pharmaceutical products account for 38 percent of total exports, up 1 percent from 2020.
The value of goods imported were also strong; up 18 percent from previous year, growing to nearly €103 billion in 2021. Imports of mineral fuels have seen the biggest year on year percentage movement, up 81 percent in 2021.
Exports and imports between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have both increased significantly in 2021, each totalling nearly €4 billion, up 54 and 65 percent respectively. €1.3 billion of these exports were shipments of food products and live animals.
The report outlines that “under the Revised Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland is legally part of the customs territory of the UK, but effectively remains within the EU Single Market for the movement of goods”. The Fine Gael TD, Neal Richmond calls on this opportunity to be seized and to maximise trading patterns through every means possible. Richmond says “we must remember that this movement of goods from Northern Ireland to the EU Single Market is possible only thanks to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Businesses and traders have shifted their trading patterns to the path of least resistance and are focusing their goods in the internal EU market. The Protocol is not only protecting Northern Ireland from the worst of Brexit, economically, but it also offers far greater potential than many would have expected.”
Exports to Great Britain in 2021 exceeded €14.4 billion, €958 million less than imports recorded of €15.4 billion. However, while a trade deficit resulted from 2021, annual exports to Great Britain did increase by 17 percent, whereas imports from Great Britain saw a drop of 13 percent, compared to 2020.
Read the full report here.
Euro Central Bank Digital Currency bill due early 2023
European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness spoke at the Afore Consulting Annual FinTech and Regulation Conference last week and confirmed that the Commission intends to present a legislative initiative on instant payments in the second half of 2022. This will be the legal foundation for the euro central bank digital currency (CBDC), with a working prototype expected in late 2023.
McGuinness added that a targeted legislative consultation will be held “in the coming weeks”. As reported by Politico, Germany and France called to speed up the project last year as they fear being left behind, with China and India making moves to create their own. The earliest completion date for CBDC is 2025.
Latest SME credit demand survey shows recovery in overall SME performance
The most recent SME credit demand survey released by the Department of Finance covers the period April to September 2021. Of the 1,502 SMEs included in the survey, 57 percent reported a profit, compared to 31 percent in 2020.
Average reported turnover for the twelve-month period ending September 2021 was €515k for micro companies, €3.63m for small sized enterprises and €9.96m for medium sized companies.
Trading conditions were also reported to have improved significantly, coming close to the levels recorded pre-pandemic, in September '19
Read the full report from the Department of Finance here.
Northern Ireland Labour Market Report
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency published their latest Labour Market Report this week. This report indicates that the number of people on payroll in Northern Ireland has increased 5 percent over the twelve-month period to January 2022, with the figure now standing at 774,900.
The January 2022 claimant count stood at 41,200 people, which is 35 percent lower than the peak seen in May 2020. However, the current count is still 35 percent higher than the pre-pandemic count in March 2020.
A median monthly pay of £1,941 was recorded for January 2022, up 8.7 percent over the previous year.
From 1 January to 14 February 2022, 260 redundancies have been proposed, following low proposed redundancies for the period September to December 2021. 2,450 redundancies were confirmed over the latest twelve-month period, which is 54 percent less than the previous year, where 5,380 redundancies were confirmed.
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