Economic growth slower than predicted
The economy is growing at a slower pace than the Government predicted, new figures revealed today.
The Central Statistics Office reported growth of 4.1%, but experts in the Department of Finance had expected it to exceed 5% in line with employment and consumption.
With 90,000 jobs being created right across the economy it is feared most of the new posts are low productivity positions which could make it more difficult to ensure improved living standards in the future.
Employment is now outstripping economic growth, the opposite of the beginning of the boom years in the 1990s when the Celtic Tiger was driven by foreign investment and the expansion of the industrial sector.
It is feared that the loss of high value technology jobs in the last year is affecting the economy.
The CSO recorded a year-on-year GNP growth rate of 3.1% in the second quarter of 2005. Consumer speeding was still relatively strong and up 4.7% on the same period last year.
Capital investment increased to 11.4% from 8.4%, the CSO reported. Industrial output showed annual growth of 2.3% after two successive quarters of declines. Net exports – exports minus imports – were €133m lower than in the same period in 2004. For 2004, the economy recorded GDP and GNP growth rates of 4.5% and 4% respectively.
