ESRI: Economy 'bouncing along the bottom'
21/09/2012 - 07:10:47The Irish Economy is bouncing along the bottom according to the latest report from the ESRI.
In its quarterly economic commentary out this morning, the institute is predicting a contraction in the domestic economy this year with a slight improvement next year.
It says the domestic economy, which is measured in terms of GNP, will decline by 0.2% this year, although it says exporters and foreign owned companies will continue to do well enough to register GDP growth of 1.8% in the economy as a whole.
The picture for 2013 is a little brighter with the economy set to grow by 2.1% in GDP terms.
The ESRI is urging the government to cut pay rather than staff numbers in the public service and their economist David Duffy says cutting numbers in the public service would also mean a reduction in services.
“Ideally, you would probably prefer to reduce pay than cut numbers because in a very weak labour market, it’s difficult to cut. If you do cut the numbers, it has implications on the delivery of services.
“What you’re looking for is the flexibility that if you have a surplus number in one area they can be relocated to where the demand for services is.”
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