Ireland Economy - An Insight

The Ireland economy is one of the leading economies of the world as an important economy in the European Union. It is largely driven by the exports and industry. The territory, popularly known as “Celtic tiger” is one of the major driving forces in Irish Economy. While the primary sector plays a vital role, secondary sector accounts for the maximum exports.

Of all the economies, the Irish economy is highly important economies of the European Union, recording an average annual growth rate of 10 per cent at the close of the preceding century. It is largely dependent on industry and trade and the economy of Ireland is driven by exports. In terms of per capita income, Ireland positions second among all the European Union nations. The per capita Gross Domestic product of Ireland ranks fourth highest in the world. According to the report released by World Bank in 2005, Ireland’s per head GNI of 41, 400 US$ is the third highest of all the European nations.

Conventionally, Ireland is an agricultural driven economy. But, now it has shifted its course and is highly dominated by industry. The Industrial sector contributes a considerable 46% of Irelands Gross Domestic Product. It also accounts for 80 per cent of the Ireland’s export and constitute 30 per cent of the Irish employment.

• Key Sector in Ireland’s Economy

The primary and the most important sector in the economy of Ireland is much smaller than its secondary and tertiary sector. The primary sector contributes five per cent to the GDP of Ireland nad provides an employment to about 10 percent of Ireland’s people. Agro based drink and food items contributed 9 per cent of Ireland’s export in 2004. One of the major export items is Zinc and Ireland continues to remain a key importer of woof because of gross deforestation. Another important segment in the primary sector of Ireland’s economy is Fishery.

• Secondary Sector in the economy of Ireland:

Various top profile industries dominates the secondary sector of Ireland’s economy. It contributes 45 percent to the GDP and accounts for 30 per cent of employment. While textile and cloth industry have conventionally driven growth in the secondary sector of the Ireland’s economy, highly advanced technology based industries have recently taken over.

Ireland is one of the leading and most important manufacturers of computer parts and computer in the European Union nations. According to the estimates, thirty per cent of overall production of computers in Europe comes from Ireland. Many top companies such as Dell, Intel and IBM are leading players in this sector. Oracle and Microsoft have set up their operations in Dublin. Ireland is the largest software exporter in the world.

Other most important industries of the Ireland’s economy include machinery, confectionary and drugs. However, in the past few years, real estate industry has also gained importance. However, recently, a major drop has been recorded in this sector.

• Tertiary Sector in the Economy of England

As tertiary sector accounts for 49 per cent of Gross Domestic product, it forms the most crucial sector Irish Economy. This sector employs more than 65 percent of Ireland’s workforce. This sector is popularly called the “Celtic Tiger” as it is one of the major driving forces in the economic development and growth of Ireland. Some major industries of this sector comprises of tourism, financial services, call centers, catering and legal services. The tourism industry of Ireland alone recruits approximately 100, 000 people every year. The tertiary sector accounts for both international retail companies and cafe chains such as McDonalds, Starbucks etc.

• Current Trends in Irish Economy

Of all the other economies of world, Irish economy was not affect ted by the global economic crisis at the beginning of the 21st century. There was no shutting down of operations in any of the multinational companies in Ireland. Unemployment also remained under control. However, unemployment in Irish economy is low but constantly rising. Due to the slow down in the real estate industry, more than 3500 jobs are expected to be lost between the year 2007 and 2008. In the year 2007, the inflation rate in Ireland was 5.2 per cent.

• Budget of Ireland in 2008

The most important highlights of the Irish Budget include the following:

• Allocation of 2.8 million for airports and ports
• One billion Euros allocated for the convenience of public transport
• Rise in motor tax
• Elevation in spending for the benefit of children
• Increase of 35 cents on excise of cigarettes
• 0.8 government deficit for the year 2008
• Lowered the duty on credit cards
• Increase in non contributory and non contributory pension
• Six hundred million allocated for local and regional roads
• 16.2 billion Euros allocated for healthcare in 2008