IMF scathing about Irish reliance on property boom
The Government is coming under fire following a scathing report from the International Monetary Fund last night about the state of the Irish economy.
The report is hugely critical of the way the property boom was stoked in recent years, despite warnings that it posed a major risk to economic stability.
The IMF says that, as a result of this, the Irish economy will suffer a worse contraction than any other in the developed world this year.
It is predicting an overall contraction of 13.5% between 2008 and 2010.
Elsewhere, the global financial watchdog expresses support for the Government's bank guarantee and recapitalisation schemes.
It also suggests that temporary nationalisation of the banks may be the best way to ensure that the planned National Assets Management Agency can successfully remove toxic assets from the financial system.
The Government has repeatedly ruled out the nationalisation of the banks.
Responding to the report last night, Fine Gael and Labour said the Government now needed to stop pretending that Ireland's economic woes were caused by global factors.
