Irish economic growth will grind to a halt and unemployment will creep above 5% this year under Italy-style quarantines to control the Covid-19 outbreak here, the Economic and Social Research Institute has projected in new forecasts. ESRI research professor Kieran McQuinn told the Irish Examiner that domestic economic growth, even under a four-week quarantine period, will slow this year, while a quarantine of around eight weeks or beyond will lead to “a very significant” fallout in which Irish GDP falls to zero and unemployment rises. Under the ESRI’s central projection for a quarantine period of four weeks, GDP slows from 5.5% in 2019 to between 3% and 3.5% this year. As the Italian death toll rose and Italy imposed official quarantines, Irish business groups have stepped up their warnings about the economic fallout here. The chief economist at the IMF, Gita Gopinath, also stepped up the fund’s warnings over the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

Source: Irish Examiner March 09, 2020 16:57 UTC