Irish Economic Statistics 2009 - GDP, National Debt

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KEY IRISH ECONOMIC STATISTICS

Irish Economy: Some Key Facts

For the second time in a generation, monumental economic mismanagement has made Ireland unprepared for a global recession. Membership of the Eurozone has only saved the country from the fate of Iceland - - double-digit interest rates and an IMF bailout. Political leaders who believed they had invented the free lunch, during the construction boom, are still in denial about the challenges in the post-Celtic Tiger period. We say "God Bless America" and President Obama, as Irish economic fortunes are overwhelmingly dependent on America's.
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Irish property remains amongst the most expensive in the world and there are no government proposals to change the system of poor planning and the creation of an artificial scarcity of land, in a country that is 4% urbanised.

Foreign firms, mainly American, account for 90% of Ireland's Exports. In 1973, the year Ireland joined the then European Economic Community, 55% of total Irish exports went to the UK. In 2009, of the 10% of exports from Irish-owned firms, 50% go to the UK.

Ireland is more dependent on US firms than any other developed country

Almost half of foreign companies based in Ireland regret decision; Dell supplier Flextronics to axe 118 jobs in Limerick

84% of the shares of Ireland's biggest company CRH, which accounts for more than 30% of the value of the Irish stock exchange, were owned by foreign residents in Dec 2007. Only about 2,000 of CRH's payroll of 92,000, is located in Ireland

Ireland plans to be a "world-class" knowledge economy in 4 years; In 2008, the leading home-grown high-tech firm Iona Technologies, was sold to a US firm

Irish full-time employment in manufacturing and internationally traded services fell 10,297 in the period 2000-2007 while the total workforce expanded by 605,000 - - 40%

Irish household debt levels @ 200% of GNP among highest in the world; Property taxes as % of total revenue up from 4% in 1995 to 17% in 2007; Current public spending grew at annual 14.5% rate 1997-2007

Irish investors were the second biggest net investors in commercial property across Europe in 2007; Irish investment of €13.9bn compared with a mere €200m in venture capital investment for Irish business

Property-related activities account for almost two-thirds of outstanding Irish private sector lending; Irish farm land prices are the highest in Europe; Dublin office rents are among the highest in the world

An estimated 17% of Irish housing stock is empty

Irish construction output in 2007 was 23.5% of GNP- rate of housebuilding in the Irish construction sector was 21 units per 1,000 of the population in 2006 compared with average of 5 units across Western Europe; at least 19% of the total workforce was directly or indirectly dependent on construction

SEE also: June 2008 Euroconstruct update

International house price comparison index for 2007 ranks Dublin, Ireland and Beverly Hills, California for world's most expensive comparable management level family homes

World Bank study says 12 economies account for more than two-thirds of world’s output; Chinese economy size cut by 40%; Ireland is fourth most expensive world economy

Irish Public Sector Pensions' bill jumped €743m to €1.8bn in 5 years to 2008 - up 66.5% compared with pay rise of 45.4%; 57% of Irish private sector workers have no occupational pension

Bertie Ahern Taoiseach/Prime Minister 1997-2008, was the cheerleader-in-chief of the property boom:

In April 2006, he said that had listened for seven years to warnings and arguments about difficulties in the construction sector. "I think you have to look at the asset. This is the question: if you are borrowing 'x', if you sell the asset, if there's a bit of a downturn, will you get 'x' back in return? That's the issue. At the moment, there doesn't seem to be an indication [of difficulties].

"I mean quite frankly, if you had taken the advice a year ago you would have lost a lot of money. Everybody said we're going to see a huge downturn in 2005 linking into 2006 - they were entirely wrong.

In April 2007 he said: "On the other side of the election we'll get back to normality. And I think that normality will be the soft landing. The construction projections were that we will move from something like 93,000 houses to 80-something. Now that's not going to create any kind of a difficulty."

In July 2007 he said: "Sitting on the sidelines, cribbing and moaning is a lost opportunity. I don't know how people who engage in that don't commit suicide because frankly the only thing that motivates me is being able to actively change something."

In September 2007 he said: "But there is no place for negativity. No need for any pessimism. Above all, there is no place for politically motivated attempts to talk down the economy and the achievements of our people across all sectors."

Key Statistics

In the period 1977-1982, the first of 2 occasions in a generation that the Irish economy was monumentally mismanaged, the national debt trebled.
In the period 2007-2012, the National Debt will also treble, according to Dept of Finance estimates.

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Dec 2008: Irish National Debt increased to €50.7bn/32.5% of gross national product (GNP) - up from 23.3% in 2007

Dec 2008: General Government Debt/GDP ratio at 41.3% up from 24.8% in 2007. Euro rules limit GGD/GDP ratio is to 60%

Dec 2008: Annual Exchequer Deficit/GDP @ 6.25% compared with Euro rules target of 3% and 9.25% in 2009; Dept of Finance forecasts General Government Debt of 90% of GDP by 2013 if public borrowing isn't cut.

Borrowing of €20bn required in 2009, if current spending trends continue, with €11bn of this borrowed to pay for current spending and €9bn borrowed to pay for capital projects. If this process continues unchecked, borrowing for current spending will increase from €11bn to €17bn by 2013.

Dec 2008: Irish Private Sector Credit (ex IFSC issues)/GNP 200%; Dec 2003 100% (Goodbody est) - Germany & France @ 105%; Finland @ 84%. Irish credit growth has been funded out of external resources, with net external liabilities rising from 12% of GNP in 2003 to 67% of GNP at the end of 2007

Dec 2008: Irish household debt @178% of disposable income - up from 48% in 1995 (Goodbody est)

Irish GNP 2008: €156.3bn - Dept of Finance

Irish GDP 2008: €187.4bn - Dept of Finance

Population 4.2m - Census of Population 2006

Dept of Finance update on the Euro Stability Pact for European Commission - Jan 09, 2009

CSO detail of National Accounts - Dec 18, 2008

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy in a given time period, whether by domestic or foreign-owned firms, native or migrant workers.

Gross National Product (GNP) is the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy in a given time period which accrues to the residents of a country, be they resident there or overseas. The profits made by CRH, which has over 40,000 employed in the US, are counted as part of Irish GNP - - even though over 80% of its shareholders are foreign residents.

The difference is made up of what are termed net factor flows, which includes net profit repatriation by multinationals and interest on the foreign component of the national debt. In Ireland's case, GDP is significantly larger than GNP because of the large US multinational presence there.

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