DUBLIN: Ireland has logged the fastest growth rate of all 28 EU member countries. Fresh figures from the national statistics office revealed that both strong exports and domestic demand contributed to the surge.
Gross domestic product in Ireland expanded by 4.8 percent in 2014, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reported Thursday, marking the biggest GDP growth rate in all of the European Union.
The Irish output expansion rate was far higher than the EU average of 1.3 percent and the eurozone average of just 0.9 percent last year.
The government in Dublin said the country has enjoyed strong growth after it became the first of the financially-rescued eurozone nations to exit its bailout program. That had been made possible after deep cuts in state spending, hefty tax hikes, structural reforms and the sale of some state assets.
