While the international backdrop has become more unsettled, the Irish economy continues to exhibit signs of strong, broad-based growth. The economy is adding 1,000 jobs a week and unemployment has fallen to a post-crisis low of 5.6%. Wage growth has accelerated to a post-crisis high of 4.1% year-on-year, nearly seven times the headline rate of increase in consumer prices. Ireland’s exporters enjoyed a vintage 2018, with the tradesurplus reaching an all-time high of close to €1bn a week. Largely reflecting the more uncertain external environment, we recently trimmed our 2019 headline GDP growth forecast by 20bps to a still impressive 4.3%.

Source: Irish Examiner April 01, 2019 04:41 UTC