Irish growth impressive but inflation a concern

The Irish economy contrasts with that of the rest of Euroland in two important respects: its high levels of growth and inflation. Irish GDP growth for 2003 is forecast at 3.6%, having managed 3.9% last year. This compares with 0.8% for Euroland as a whole in 2002 and a predicted 1.5% for 2003. Inflation in Ireland ran at 4.8% last year and is forecast to be 4.5% for 2003. 'We have had extraordinarily robust growth since the mid-1990s but a lot of that was catch-up for Ireland, which was the laggard within Europe,' says Richard Pease, European director at New Star Investments. ...