DUBLIN, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's trade surplus showed a declining tendency in the first three months of this year, revealed the latest figures from the country's national statistics bureau CS0.
In January, the country's trade surplus stood at 6.9 billion euros (about 7.7 billion U.S. dollars), by February, the monthly figure dropped to 6.1 billion euros, the March figure further shrank to 4.5 billion euros.
The historical data provided by the CSO showed that such a month-by-month decline of the country's trade surplus in the first three months of a year had never been seen since 2016.
Ireland is an export-oriented economy and much of its economic growth depends the country's trade surplus. The CSO figures showed that in 2018 Ireland achieved a trade surplus of more than 49 billion euros, accounting for about 15 percent of its GDP which stood at 312 billion euros.
The declining tendency found in Ireland's trade surplus in the first quarter of this year could have a negative impact on the country's economy if it persisted in the remaining months of this year, said local analysts.
During the first quarter of this year, Ireland exported over 38 billion euros worth of goods while its goods imports were valued at about 20.4 billion euros with a trade surplus of nearly 18 billion euros, according to the CSO.
By country, the United States was the largest export market for the Irish goods while Britain was the largest source for Ireland's imported goods, showed the 2019 Q1 figures of the CSO.
During the January-March period of this year, Ireland exported 10.8 billion euros worth of goods to the United States, accounting for over 28 percent of the country's total exports, while its goods imports from Britain were valued at 5.46 billion euros, accounting for nearly 27 percent of the country's total imports.(1 euro=1.115 U.S. dollars)
