Economy expanded by 26% last year, says CSO. Largely driven by aircraft purchases and assets re-locating to Ireland. Employment steady.
— David Murphy (@davidmurphyRTE) July 12, 2016
Ireland debt-to-GDP ratio will fall to less than 80% as a result of new economic figures, says CSO.
— David Murphy (@davidmurphyRTE) July 12, 2016
Yikes.
View CSO figures in full here
Apparently it’s GE Capital Aviation Services that became Irish last year, producing such a big spike in Irish GDP, GNP and IP.
— Ronan Lyons (@ronanlyons) July 12, 2016
Boeing.
UPDATE:
During RTÉ’s News at One, RTÉ’s Business Editor David Murphy spoke to Audrey Carville about the figures.
From the interview…
Audrey Carville: “David, has it really grown by so much?”
David Murphy: “No. I think the issue here is Audrey, that what’s happened is that when the CSO does its figures it has to take account of what companies are doing. And, normally, if a company invests in an asset like a factory then that will result in more employment and boost the economy. So those assets are very important. But what’s happened is that a number of large, international companies have bought aircraft, they’ve done corporate restructuring and some companies have located assets to Ireland for the first time. And as a result, it’s had a one-off effect on the balance sheet of the entire country and it’s distorted the figures for the entire economy quite significantly. Showing that the economy, on the face of it, would have appeared to have expanded by 26% last year. Now, were that to have happened, in reality, people would be feeling 26% richer but they’re not.”
Listen back in full here