Irish economy is suffering more than most
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has this evening issued a report suggesting that the Irish economy has been worst hit by the global economic downturn and will suffer a prolonged recovery period. The IMF also believes that the Irish banking sector will report losses of around £30 billion which will take some time to recover and see a very different Irish banking sector in the future.
Ireland was initially put forward as one of the more stable economies as the global economic crunch began to hit home but what started as a crack in the banking sector soon opened up and exposed a series of difficult situations. As a consequence the IMF believes the economy will shrink by 8.5% this year followed by 3% in 2010. With unemployment set to hit over 15% there is a real risk that the Irish economy will be left behind as and when the worldwide economy starts to recover.
While the Irish authorities have been busy thinking of plans to inject some form of confidence into the consumer sector this has not been easy. As you might expect, the Irish authorities do not wholly agree with the IMF report suggesting that the downside has been overcooked and the economy is going through a difficult period but not one which is beyond rescue.
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