Ireland Back in a Recession Despite Austerity

Ireland is back in recession despite an austerity drive to cut its debts, official figures have confirmed.

Irish GDP shrank 0.6% in the first quarter of 2013, but the recession was confirmed when official data revised the economy’s performance in the final three months of 2012 to a decline of 0.2%. It means that Ireland has endured three successive quarters of contraction and is back in recession for the first time since 2009. GDP has declined despite the presence in Ireland of multinationals such as Apple, Google, IBM and several big pharmaceutical companies.

The output drop reflects an ongoing depression in consumer demand, amid unemployment of nearly 14%. Personal expenditure declined by 3% between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. The decrease in demand reflects Irish consumers’ fears for their jobs and a reluctance to get into debt following the credit-fuelled spending boom of the Celtic Tiger years.

via The Guardian

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