{"id":142120,"date":"2025-10-24T05:56:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T05:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/142120\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T05:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T05:56:14","slug":"despite-global-headwinds-the-irish-economy-is-projected-to-grow-by-almost-11-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/142120\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite global headwinds, the Irish economy is projected to grow by almost 11% \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bank of Ireland<\/a> has upgraded its forecast for Irish economic growth<\/a> this year to almost 11 per cent, which is expected to make Ireland the fastest-growing advanced economy<\/a> in the world. <\/p>\n

The bank said the upward revision, which tallies with the Department of Finance<\/a>\u2019s own forecast, was driven mainly by \u201ca buoyant pharmaceutical sector, resilient consumer spending and strong public investment\u201d.<\/p>\n

It projected the economy would expand by 10.7 per cent in GDP (gross domestic product) terms this year, up from a previous estimate of 8.1 per cent, and by 3.1 per cent in 2026.<\/p>\n

The bulge in GDP reflects the stockpiling of pharmaceutical exports in the US in advance of tariffs<\/a> in the first part of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite global headwinds, Ireland\u2019s defensive export profile, particularly in pharmaceuticals and ICT, continues to shield it from volatility,\u201d the bank\u2019s chief economist Conall Mac Coille<\/a> said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent Pfizer agreement with the White House has helped preserve tariff exemptions for Irish exports, placing Ireland in an enviable position compared to other European manufacturing-heavy economies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Drug giant Pfizer<\/a>, which has a large operation in the Republic, has agreed to lower prescription drug prices in the US in return for a reprieve on tariffs.<\/p>\n

In its report, Bank of Ireland predicted modified domestic demand, a more accurate measure of underlying economic activity, would expand by 3.4 per cent in 2025 and by 2.6 per cent in 2026, reflecting what it described as \u201crobust activity across both public and private sectors\u201d.<\/p>\n

It forecast, however, that the recent pace of job creation would slow from 2026 onwards as infrastructure bottlenecks begin to bite.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump\u2019s bully boy tactics bringing Big Pharma to heelOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some time the frantic pace of Irish job creation, at 3 per cent-plus rates, has been sustained by high inward migration and rising participation,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, bottlenecks in housing and labour shortages are being felt. Recent indicators and out-turns have been consistent with our previous view that employment growth will fall to 1.5 per cent in 2026, accompanied by a slight rise in the unemployment rate to 4.8 per cent next year,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

On housing, the bank said it expected house prices to rise by about 6 per cent this year and by 3.5 per cent in 2026 \u201cdespite signs of a slowdown\u201d.<\/p>\n

It noted that, in light of recent housing completion numbers, the full-year total was likely to be in the region of 34,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 33,000 units completed in the year to Q3 is the highest number of units since the Celtic Tiger period. The output shows that some commentary that home building might contract in 2025 were wide of the mark,\u201d Mr Mac Coille said.<\/p>\n

Dublin housing supply pipeline figures show there is two to three years\u2019 of apartment supply in the capital still under construction, he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0ECB\u2019s Lane flags US dollar risk for banks amid tariff turmoilOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cViability issues and weak planning permissions for apartments won\u2019t hit until 2028-29,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On public finances, the bank noted that Budget 2026 set out plans to grow public expenditure by 8 per cent to \u20ac118 billion next year, \u201cmore sharply than the expected 4.4 per cent underlying rise in tax revenues\u201d. <\/p>\n

As a result, the Government expects its budget surplus to narrow from \u20ac10 billion in 2025 to \u20ac5 billion in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is clearly a risk of spending exceeding budgetary targets, as in previous years,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bank of Ireland has upgraded its forecast for Irish economic growth this year to almost 11 per cent,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[625,10471,79,84162,22779,179,18,19,17,4765,2554,1411],"class_list":{"0":"post-142120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-bank-of-ireland","9":"tag-budget","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-conall-mac-coille","12":"tag-department-of-finance","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-pfizer","18":"tag-pharma","19":"tag-us-tariffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115427605445277498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}