The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has cut its growth forecasts for most of the world's major economies Stock imageThe Organisation for Economic Cooperation says that the Irish economy may only shrink by 15pc as a result of the shock from the coronavirus pandemic, the lowest of its forecasts for any of its 36 member states. The OECD which groups rich economies said that these were only the initial impacts on the level of gross domestic product. If the shutdown continued for three months, with no offsetting factors, annual GDP growth could be between 4-6 percentage points lower than it otherwise might have been,” the OECD said. Using GDP as a measure overstates the size of the Irish economy by around a third, and so would lead to a underestimation of the impact on the State. It also however includes a very large tourism sector that employs 10.3pc of the workforce versus 6.9pc in the OECD as a whole.

Source: Irish Independent March 30, 2020 12:45 UTC