Ireland's 2018 economic growth revised up to 4.4 pct

DUBLIN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's central bank has revised the country's 2018 economic growth rate up to 4.4 percent, citing favorable international and domestic factors as main reasons, according to a quarterly bulletin released Friday by the bank.

The latest forecast of the central bank represented a half percentage point higher than its last one made in October 2017.

The better-than-expected economic performance in the euro area and the widely anticipated continuation of the economic recovery in the region in the near term is a major factor for the bank's revision.

Ireland is a small and open economy which heavily depends on the market performance in Europe as statistics showed that nearly 57 percent of its exports were delivered to the European continental in 2016.

The demand from Ireland's main trading partners is expected to be somewhat stronger in 2018 than what was expected at the time of the previous forecast, said the central bank.

The bank predicts a 4.4 percent growth for the country's exports in 2018. Ireland's total exports in 2016 were valued at 128 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for nearly 44 percent of its total GDP in the year.

Strong domestic demand supported by growth in employment and incomes, competitive tax policy for attracting foreign investment, and steady government spending, are the other major factors leading to the revision by the bank.

The bank predicts a 3.9 percent growth for the domestic demand in 2018 mainly due to the continued growth in the country's employment and incomes.

The employment and the gross national income of Ireland will grow by 2.2 percent and 3.8 percent respectively in 2018, said the bank, adding that an additional 48,000 new jobs will be created this year.

Despite the recent tax cuts by the United States, Ireland's 12.5 percent corporation income tax still remain competitive for wooing international investors.

Investment, especially foreign investment, is a vital factor affecting the performance of the Irish economy. The central bank has listed investment including both domestic and foreign ones as the top factor contributing to the growth of the Irish economy in 2018.

The central bank believed that the government spending will remain steady this year as the total tax take of the government for last year set a record high since 2000, amounting to over 50 billion euros (over 62 billion U.S. dollars). The Irish government spending for this year will grow 2.9 percent, predicted the bank.

While being upbeat about this year's growth, the central bank also warned of potential risks for the country's economy. Such risks mainly include the impact of Brexit, the possible knock-on effect of the tax cuts by the United States, and potential overheating of the local economy. (1 euro=1.24 U.S. dollars) Enditem