Good growth for Irish economy

An economist predicts that the Irish economy should deliver strong growth in 2005:

Friends First economist Jim Power predicts that the Irish economy should deliver GDP growth of around 5% and GNP growth of around 4.5% in 2005

The economist says the outlook for the Irish economy in 2005 'looks pretty good'. He says that business investment spending recovered strongly during 2004 and this is likely to be sustained into the coming year.

He says that consumer spending power is likely to by buoyed up in 2005 by a strong jobs market, reasonable growth in wages and the 'generous' Budget that was delivered in December. Inflation is likely to edge back from current levels and could average around 2.5% for the full year while unemployment should also continue to edge lower and could hit 4% later in the year.