Ireland's balance of payments deficit widened to €2 billion in the first quarter of 2006 on account of a sharp increase in imported services.
There was a deficit of €2,024 million on the current account of the Balance of Payments in the first quarter of 2006, compared to one of €1,676 million for the same period in 2005.
The latest deficit resulted from a negative "invisibles" balance of €8,466 million exceeding a merchandise surplus of €6,442 million. Invisible imports include financial services and tourist expenditure abroad.
Goods exports were €21,085 million, €1.2 billion higher than in March 2005 while service exports at €12,440m were over €2 billion higher.
Merchandise and service imports of €14,644m and €14,345m were about €1.6 and €1.7 billion higher respectively.
Foreign income receipts of €12,833 million were up almost €3.6 billion compared to one year ago, while income outflows of €19,010 million increased by €3.8 billion.
Other figures released by the Central Statistics Office today show industrial employment rose by 2,400 to 239,300 in the twelve months to March.
Average industrial earnings rose by 2.7 per cent in the twelve months to March while average hours worked decreased by 1 per cent for the same period.