Irish economic growth tops euro zone again
New preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office show that GDP increased by 7.8% for the whole of 2015. This made the Irish economy the fastest growing economy in the Europe Union for the second successive year after growth accelerated sharply in the final three months of the year.
The 7.8% boost to all business done in the country last year outstrips every other European country and is built mainly around continued demand for exports and resurgent high street spending.
The Government had forecast that growth for last year might exceed 7%, and in January the Central Bank had said it expected GDP to be 6.6% for 2015.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan claimed the revival was a direct consequence of the policies pursued by the outgoing government, which was hammered in last month’s election, and people’s sacrifices.
“The Government will continue to work so that the benefits of economic recovery are more widely distributed and that the unemployment rate is reduced further,” he said.
Today’s figures show that manufacturing industry recorded an annual 14.2% increase in value terms, while building and construction recorded an 8.8% rise.
The distribution, transport, software and communications sector increased by 8.7% while the agriculture sector increased by 6.4%, and other services by 4.3 per cent.
However, public administration and defence recorded an annual decline of 2.6%.
Personal consumption, which accounts for 55% of domestic demand, rose by 3.5% during the year, while government expenditure saw a slight decline over the same year.
Total domestic demand increased by 9.3% in 2015 compared with 2014.
