Quarterly Financial Accounts
The Quarterly Financial Accounts (QFA) present a complete and consistent set of quarterly financial data for all sectors of the Irish economy. They provide comprehensive information on the financial and investment activities of households, non-financial corporations, financial corporations, government and the rest of the world. The whom-to-whom tables provide information on the interactions between these sectors.
Key Points – Q2 2024
Publication date: 07 November 2024
- Net wealth of Irish households increased by €17.3bn in the quarter, to reach €1,147bn.
Chart 1: Household Net Wealth
View data for chart 1 | xlsx 21 KB
Household net wealth rose by €17.3bn from the revised Q1 2024 figure to reach €1,147bn in Q2 2024. The extension of data sources and methodological updates in the benchmark revisions lead to slight downward revisions for household wealth across the revision period (Q1 2013 to Q1 2024). The overall trend however for household assets and liabilities, has remained unaltered. Q2 2024 household net wealth represents a series high, and continues the pattern of growth seen in recent quarters. The increase in aggregate household wealth does not capture distribution effects across the sector.
Positive revaluations for existing housing assets (€14.9bn) and investment in new housing (€2.6bn) drove up the value of the total stock of housing assets to €778bn and were the main contributors to increased household wealth. In Q2 2024, housing assets represented 68 per cent of total net wealth and 59 per cent of total assets of Irish households.
Chart 2: Breakdown of Household Net Wealth, Q-on-Q Changes
View data for chart 2 | xlsx 16 KB
Households’ financial net wealth was €369bn at the end of Q2 2024, roughly in line with the series high in Q1 2024. Financial investment (€2.4bn) and negative liabilities transactions (-€1.5bn) were offset by revaluations and other changes for financial instruments (-€4.1bn).
The large negative revaluations value for Q1 2013 includes other volume changes, which are flows other than transactions or holding gains and losses. In the context of the benchmark revisions, they reflect the series break in outstanding amounts of assets and liabilities due to the updated data source incorporated from Q1 2013 while Q4 2012 data were not revised.
Chart 3: Household Savings
View data for chart 3 | xlsx 21 KB
Computed households’ savings in Q2 2024 totalled €3.9bn, driven by acquisitions of financial instruments, particularly deposits, as well as investment in new housing. Increasing loan liabilities for households have partially offset these movements.
CSO data show that gross savings on a four-quarter average basis were €5.8bn in Q2 2024, in line with the previous quarter. The CSO data release also shows that household total disposable income rose to €43bn in Q2 2024 (on a single quarter basis), while the seasonally adjusted savings rate decreased to 12.7 per cent.
Chart 4: Private Sector Debt-to-GDP
View data for chart 4 | xlsx 18 KB
Total private sector debt increased by €12.9bn over the quarter, to stand at €833bn. Non-financial corporations (NFCs) accounted for 81 per cent of the overall amount. NFCs debt increased by €10.6bn in Q2 2024, while household debt increased by €2.4bn. The private sector debt to GDP ratio rose by 3 per cent to reach 164 per cent, due to the combined movement of increasing debt and of a marginal decline in annualised GDP compared to the previous period.
Both NFC and household debt levels were revised down as part of the benchmark revisions, however the pattern of change in debt over time has remained consistent with the previous data vintage.
The presence of large multinational enterprises (MNEs) significantly influences private sector debt in Ireland. Restructuring by these entities has resulted in large movements in Irish private sector debt (particularly from 2014 onwards). Private sector indebtedness forms part of the European Commission’s scoreboard of macroeconomic imbalances. The Commission sets an indicative threshold of 133 per cent of GDP for private sector debt sustainability, which does not take into account the large presence of MNEs in Ireland.
Chart 5: Government Debt
View data for chart 5 | xlsx 19 KB
In Q2 2024, Irish government debt increased by €2.5bn to reach €219.5bn. Debt securities were the largest contributor to the increased debt, although this was all from short-term debt securities with long-term debt securities declining relative to Q1 2024.
Chart 5 also displays the Quarterly Government Debt (QGD) indicator, based on the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) measure of debt. The QGD increased by €1.1bn in Q2 2024, to reach €216.9bn.
Overall, total financial assets of the government increased by €15.7bn, mainly driven by increased deposit (+€7.7bn) and equity (+€7.6bn) assets. Over the quarter, total government liabilities increased by €4.3bn. The combined effect of these movements resulted in an increase in government net wealth, to stand at -€118.7bn in Q2 2024.
Chart 6: Net Lending/Borrowing
View data for chart 6 | xlsx 22 KB
The domestic economy remained a net lender in Q2 2024, as net acquisitions of assets surpassed the net incurrence of liabilities by €47.7bn on a four-quarter average basis.
Financial corporations (€27.1bn), NFCs (€18.2bn), general government (€1.5bn) and households (€0.9bn) were all net lenders. MFIs (€17bn) and other financial institutions (€15.8bn) drove the net lending position of financial corporations. While investment funds (-€3.8bn), pension funds (-€1.3bn) and insurance corporations (-€0.7bn) were all net borrowers on a four-quarter average basis in Q2 2024.
The benchmark revisions notably affected the net lending/borrowing series for financial corporations, particularly Irish resident investment funds. The updated data show that financial corporations have been net lenders for each of the last four quarters, whereas under the previous vintage they were net borrowers in three of the last four.
Data
Quarterly Financial Accounts for Ireland Q2 2024 | pdf 998 KB
Chart Pack | xls 5911 KB
Whom-to-whom Tables Q1 2012 to present - ESA 2010 | xls 2916 KB
Financial Accounts for Ireland Q1 2002 to Present - ESA 2010 | xls 17528 KB