Irish Trade Surplus Grows In January

(RTTNews) - Ireland's foreign trade surplus increased markedly in January as exports surged amid a fall in imports, figures from the Central Statistics Office showed on Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted trade surplus rose to EUR 12.2 billion in January from EUR 7.1 billion in the previous month.

In the corresponding month last year, the trade balance showed a surplus of EUR 8.2 billion.

Exports logged a monthly growth of 23 percent in September, while imports dropped by 2.6 percent.

On an unadjusted basis, exports grew sharply by 28.2 percent annually in January, and imports were 8.4 percent lower compared to last year. As a result, the trade surplus increased to EUR 13.8 billion from EUR 9.2 billion last year.

The US was both the largest goods export and goods import market for Ireland in January, accounting for 48.4 percent of total goods exports and 19.7 percent of total goods imports, the agency said.