DUBLIN: The International Monetary Fund has queried the strength of Ireland’s economic growth, suggesting it is being exaggerated by offshore manufacturing conducted on behalf of multinationals in the pharma sector.
The head of the IMF’s mission to Ireland, Craig Beaumont, said the strength of Irish gross domestic product growth, expected to come in at about 5 per cent for 2014, had surprised most observers. He noted it was considerably ahead of the IMF’s own projection of 2 per cent.
However, he said the better-than-expected performance was being driven by exports and, in particular, an “exceptionally strong” upsurge in activity from a small number of companies in the pharma sector. “Once you exclude that item, growth would be a little bit closer to our projections, we don’t have a precise estimate, but maybe in the 3-4 percentage point range.”
