Exports worth £1.4bn more than imports

Ireland exported almost £1.4 billion more than it imported in 1997, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office.

This compares with a revised £1.17 billion in 1996.

A large part of the surplus was made up of merchandise of £11 billion, or almost 27 per cent of gross national product. But rising profits of foreign multinationals also contributed strongly to income outflows.