Economy

Irish domestic economy posts strong second quarter growth – Financial Post

Published

2 years ago

September 2, 2022

DUBLIN — Ireland’s domestic economy grew by 4.3% quarter-on-quarter from April to June, data showed on Friday, as a pick up in investment drove a recovery from a 0.1% decline in the first quarter with consumers also beginning to spend again on services.

Modified domestic demand (MDD), which strips out some of the ways Ireland’s large multinational sector distorts measuring economic activity, was 10.6% higher than in the same period in 2021 when the economy was emerging from a strict lockdown.

Gross domestic product (GDP), a broader measure of economic activity, grew by 1.8% on the quarter and was 11.1% higher year-on-year. The government has long cautioned against using this measure as it is routinely inflated by multinational activity.

The domestic economy expanded by 5.8% in 2021. In April the finance ministry cut its forecast for growth this year to 4.2% from the 6.5% it had expected late last year before inflation began to rise sharply.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said last month that the economy was performing in line with those revised expectations, citing tax receipts that have risen to a fresh record level and unemployment that has fallen to two-decade low of 4.3%.

While retail sales have fallen for three straight months to July, Friday’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) data suggested this was partly due to consumers spending more on services after all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted early in the year.

Growth in services expenditure of 3.3% pushed personal spending on both goods and services up 1.8% quarter-on-quarter.

However higher prices are pulling down the real effects of consumption, the CSO said, noting that while consumers spent 12.4% more on goods and services year-on-year, they only got 5.6% more in terms of volume of goods and services.

Inflation hit a near 40-year high of 9.1% in Ireland last month.

Friday’s data also showed that exports grew by 3% in the quarter, while the construction sector expanded by 2.7%. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin Editing by Tomasz Janowski, William Maclean)

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Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

2 days ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

3 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $69.4B in August

Published

3 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.

The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.

The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.

Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.

Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

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