Trade figures just published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the seasonally-adjusted surplus of the country’s exports over imports fell by €373m in March compared to February but that the value of goods and services sold abroad in March rose to more than €9bn for the first time since 2002.

This increase in the value of exports was driven by a spike in pharmaceutical sales - they increased by €1bn or 58 percent.

At €3.4bn the monthly trade surplus in March was slightly lower than some economists’ expectations, this represents the fourth successive month of declining surplus since December when a record €4.3bn was registered.

The March surplus is still seen as a very positive outcome and the strong export performance supportive of overall forecast GDP growth in excess of 4 percent this year.

While the headline monthly export figure hit a thirteen-year high, it was boosted to a considerable degree by a the increase in revenues generated by sales of medical and pharmaceutical products.

Much of this increase is likely to reflect contract manufacturing where goods produced overseas are booked on the Irish national accounts by Irish-based multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Contract manufacturing is economic activity which only takes place in Ireland on paper, often for tax purposes. Dr Donal Donovan of the IFAC suggested last year that contract manufacturing accounted for 43 percent of the increase in Ireland's GDP during the first half of 2014.