Mostly Good News For Ireland
-Ireland's long bond yields, having previously briefly been as high as 10% and still being over 8% as late as early this year, fell to 4.77%.Irish yields are thus now lower than in Spain and Italy.
-GNP-growth increased to 2.9% in the second quarter from 1.4% in the first quarter.
-Its current account surplus increased to a record €3.24 billion in the second quarter. This number isn't seasonally adjusted and for seasonal reasons it is usually larger than normal in the second quarter, but for the latest four quarters the total surplus was €5.42 billion, roughly 4% of GNP.
It is only Ireland's labor market that doesn't have good news as unemployment remains stubbornly high at 14.7%, a level which it has been more or less unchanged at for the latest year. Still, that is less bad than the continued increases seen in for example Greece and Spain.
So, while Ireland still has very deep problems, its situation has started to improve somewhat, and it is certainly doing better than the Southern European crisis countries.
-GNP-growth increased to 2.9% in the second quarter from 1.4% in the first quarter.
-Its current account surplus increased to a record €3.24 billion in the second quarter. This number isn't seasonally adjusted and for seasonal reasons it is usually larger than normal in the second quarter, but for the latest four quarters the total surplus was €5.42 billion, roughly 4% of GNP.
It is only Ireland's labor market that doesn't have good news as unemployment remains stubbornly high at 14.7%, a level which it has been more or less unchanged at for the latest year. Still, that is less bad than the continued increases seen in for example Greece and Spain.
So, while Ireland still has very deep problems, its situation has started to improve somewhat, and it is certainly doing better than the Southern European crisis countries.
posted by stefankarlsson at 1:39 PM
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