DUBLIN : Ireland raised its economic growth forecasts for the next four years on Tuesday, predicting gross domestic product would rise 5.6 percent in 2018 as a strong, broad-based recovery continues.
“While GDP clearly overstates domestic living standards, analysis of a wider suite of indicators shows the economy in a healthy position at present,” the finance ministry said in its biannual review of the economic outlook.
“For instance, the economy is approaching a situation that could reasonably be classified as full employment.” The finance ministry had previously forecast GDP growth of 3.5 percent this year.
On Tuesday it said it expected GDP to grow by 4 percent in 2019, more than the 3.2 percent it had been forecasting.
Growth will moderate to 3.4 percent in 2020 and 2.8 percent in 2021 when the terms of Britain’s full exit from the EU will have a “significant bearing on Irish living standards”.