Enterprise Ireland-backed firms saw exports rise to record €32bn last year

Ireland’s export boom is expected to continue this year even as firms grapple with a slowing global economy and higher interest rates.

Firms supported by Enterprise Ireland (EI) are “optimistic” about 2023, predicting a further 8pc export growth, according to the agency’s head Leo Clancy.

EI announced record-high exports of €32bn for client firms last year.

“We’re at 19pc growth and we’ve seen growth of €5bn in real terms, so that is the highest ever value increase in the history of this agency,” he said at EI’s 25-year anniversary event yesterday.

“We won’t see that go away overnight. But there are difficulties, nonetheless, in the global market: inflation, interest rates, the ability to raise capital. Notwithstanding that, though, we think there is optimism among the client base.”

He said it was good news that inflation and interest rates are “stabilising”.

“I think we’re in a pretty good place, if things stabilise. And I’d worry more nearly about the confidence to continue to invest,” he said.

European Central Bank’s chief economist Philip Lane told Irish firms to “think quite a lot” about how to fund themselves given interest rates are expected to stay high in future.

He told the EI event in Dublin’s RDS that there was no expectation of a return to the “super-low rates” of the last decade.

Enterprise Ireland saw their highest ever export growth last year, with sales up 19pc to €32.1bn.

Exports to the now-20 member eurozone – Croatia officially joined in January – grew the fastest, up 28pc to €7.9bn, according to new figures published by Enterprise Ireland.

Despite Brexit, the UK is still the largest market for Enterprise Ireland-backed firms, accounting for just under a third of total sales last year and growing by 13pc to €9.2bn. Exports to North America increased by 13pc to €5.5bn, making up 17pc of all exports.

Domestic and export sales by companies supported by Enterprise Ireland were worth a total of €62.3bn in 2022.

Food, tech and services exports grew fastest last year, with industrial and life sciences coming next.

The EI figures mirror record exports in the wider Irish economy, with goods exports surging 26pc to a value of €208bn in 2022,.

Reporting: The Irish Independent