DUBLIN: Ireland defied expectations again to finish the year as the fastest growing economy in the EU for the fourth year in a row.
According to the Economic and Social Research Institute, the unemployment rate will be 6.2 per cent at the end of the year and will drop to 5.4 per cent next year.
It predicted that the budget deficit will shrink to 0.3 per cent of GDP by the end of this year before reaching a surplus of 0.2 per cent next year. Borrowing costs are among the lowest in the EU at less than 1 per cent, and the national debt is 74 per cent of GDP.
