Economic growth remains flat

on 20/09/2012 10:59:20

Official figures out today show that there was no growth in the domestic economy in the second quarter of the year.

The Central Statistics Office said that GDP, which measures the total value of goods and services in the economy, remained unchanged between April and June, compared with the previous quarter.

When you strip out the profits made by foreign multinationals and focus on the domestic economy to calculate GNP however, this showed a 4.3% growth because of increases in manufacturing and construction and a €1.5bn increase in net exports.

Compared with the same quarter one year ago, GDP decreased by 1.1%, while GNP increased by 2.9%.

The net result of the figures is a flat domestic economy, with no growth in the second quarter of the year.

Today's news will make it difficult for the Government to hit its end-of-year targets under the EU/IMF deal, which relies on economic growth.

Personal expenditure declined by 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis between Q1 2012 and Q2 2012.