Personal spending up 9.4% last year

PERSONAL SPENDING by Irish consumers increased by 9.4 per cent to €91.58 billion in 2007, driven by an increase in the consumption of food, fuel and power, and household goods, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

The National Income and Expenditure 2007 report released yesterday shows that personal spending on non-alcoholic beverages soared by 17.5 per cent in 2007 to € 610 million.

Consumption of fuel and power, excluding motor fuels, increased by 10.5 per cent to € 3.03 billion, while spending on household goods was up by 8 per cent during the year to € 6.07 billion.

Government spending also increased in 2007, growing by 10.1 per cent to € 26.77 billion.

When price rises are discounted, the real increases for both personal and government spending are 6.3 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

The figures also confirm that gross domestic product rose by 6 per cent between 2006 and 2007, while Gross National Product rose by 4.1 per cent. Gross national disposable income also increased by 5.2 per cent.

Agricultural incomes increased in 2007, according to the data, having declined by 7 per cent in 2006. Last year, they were 12.1 per cent higher at € 3,46 billion, while non-agricultural incomes increased by 9.1 per cent, up to € 147.94 billion.

The report said that the value of investment in construction and capital equipment rose by 5.3 per cent during the year - from € 47.63 billion in 2006 to € 50.14 billion in 2007.

This represents an increase of 1.2 per cent in volume terms. The amount spend on roads in 2007 increased by 22.8 per cent, up to € 2.66 billion, but the amount spent on houses declined by € 627 million, or by 2.8 per cent, to € 22.04 billion.

The value of exports of goods and services totalled €151.39 billion, a rise of 6.9 per cent, while export prices increased by 0.1 per cent.

Export volumes were also up, increasing by 6.8 per cent.

The value of imports increased by 6.8 per cent, up to € 131.02 billion, representing a 2.6 per cent increase in price and a 4.1 per cent increase in volume.

The current account deficit in 2007 was € 10.3 billion, up from € 6.3 billion in 2006.