Ireland’s Central Bank Raises Economic Outlook

The Irish Central Bank has sharply raised its economic outlook for Ireland but cautioned the government not to soften austerity plans in this month’s budget, the first to be unveiled since the country’s exit from an international bailout.

In its quarterly report Friday the bank says Ireland’s gross domestic product should grow by 4.5 percent this year, driven by stronger-than-expected exports to its two biggest trading partners, Britain and the United States . The bank three months ago forecast 2014 growth at just 2.5 percent.

It said Ireland’s trade surplus should exceed 11.8 billion euros ( $15 billion ), equivalent to 6.4 percent of economic output.

But the bank cautioned Finance Minister Michael Noonan to retain “more than the minimum necessary” austerity measures in his 2015 budget being unveiled Oct. 13 .

via Kitco

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza