DUBLIN: The European Commission has predicted that Ireland’s GDP growth is projected to remain “robust” up to 2019, but that the pace of growth is expected to moderate slightly.
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In its regular forecasts for the European Union economies, the Commission has pencilled in Irish GDP growth of 4.8% for this year. Irish economic growth will then slow to 3.9% in 2018 and 3.1% in 2019, the Commission added. The Commission said the activities of multinationals here continue to distort headline figures and “complicate macroeconomic forecasts”.
It said that while the Government deficit is moving closer to balance, risks to the country’s fiscal outlook remain.
Setup Timeout Error: Setup took longer than 30 seconds to complete. It also noted the strong increase in employment, particularly in full-time employment, which is expected to support the further increase in labour income up to 2019.
The European Commission also said today that the euro zone economy will grow at its fastest pace in a decade this year, sharply increasing its projections from earlier this year. But the Commission added that the expansion will slow somewhat next year and in 2019. The Commission said the economy of the 19 countries sharing the euro would grow 2.2% this year, up from 1.8% in 2016.
In May the Commission had forecast 2017 growth at 1.7%. “The European economy has performed significantly better than expected this year, propelled by resilient private consumption, stronger growth around the world, and falling unemployment,” the Commission said in a statement.
“Investment is also picking up amid favourable financing conditions and considerably brightened economic sentiment as uncertainty has faded,” it said.
