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| Source: CSO
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The CSO reported today that In the fourth quarter of 2007 the growth in GDP was 3.5 per cent at constant prices compared with the same period in 2006 while the corresponding growth in GNP was 1.2 per cent. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices for the year 2007 as a whole was 5.3 per cent higher compared with 2006. The growth in Gross National Product (GNP) for the same period was 4.5 per cent.
In 2006, GDP grew by 5.7% and GNP by 6.5%.
The profits of foreign owned enterprises are excluded from GNP. GNP is also affected by other income flows between residents and non-residents and the timing of these flows can be variable on a quarterly basis.
Some of the main features of the results are:
- Consumer spending (personal consumption of goods and services) in volume terms was 5.4 per cent higher in 2007 compared with the previous year.
- Capital investment, in constant prices, was 0.2 per cent higher in 2007 than in 2006 but in the last quarter of 2007 it was 12.3 per cent lower than in the same quarter of 2006.
- Net Exports (exports minus imports) in constant prices were €3,838 million higher in 2007 compared with 2006.
- The volume of output of Industry (incl. Construction) increased by 6.9 per cent in 2007 compared with 2006. Within this the output of the Construction sector decreased by 1.1 per cent for the year 2007 and declined by 8.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2007 compared with the same period of 2006. Output of Distribution, Transport and Communications was up 6 per cent while Output of Other Services was 6.2 per cent higher in 2007 compared with the previous year.
Full Details
Seasonally adjusted series
Seasonally adjusted series are presented in tables 4, 5 and 6. On a seasonally adjusted basis GDP decreased by 0.8 per cent in volume terms while GNP decreased by 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the previous quarter.
International services sector a major positive in Irish economy - IBEC
IBEC today said that the most recent National Accounts figures from the CSO show that the Irish economy performed exceptionally strongly in 2007, despite the emergence of a major housing downturn towards the end of the year.
Commenting on the CSO data IBEC Senior Economist said: "Overall 2007 was another exceptionally strong year for the Irish economy. A significant rebalancing took place as the traded sector of the economy compensated for a slowdown in the building sector. Unfortunately we know that a lot has changed in recent months and 2008 is going to be a much more challenging year for the Irish economy. Signs of this slowdown are also evident in the final quarter numbers for 2007 – new housing output fell by 22%, while consumer spending growth slowed from 6.3% in Q3 to 4.4% in Q4."
O’Brien continued "a major positive to take from the CSO figures is the stellar performance of the internationally traded services sector right through to the end of 2007. Services exports grew by 15% last year and the fact that there was no evidence of any slowdown in the sector in the final quarter of the year, provides optimism that this momentum continued into 2008. As other sectors of the economy are now entering choppier waters we must look to the traded sector of the economy and in particular the internationally traded services sector to underpin economic growth."
Finfacts Comment: It's great to use superlatives about service exports but it should be pointed out that most are made by foreign-owned firms in Ireland.
The mantra about services has been latched onto in recent times by economists and others but it is not clear as to the implications for jobs would be if for example chipmaker Intel wound down and the 5,000 or so jobs disappeared while the equivalent in recorded exports was provided by a firm in the IFSC with 20 staff.
Two of the biggest companies by sales revenue in Ireland ($16 billion in 2004) , are owned by Microsoft and they operate from the office of a law firm in Dublin. They don't have any direct employees.
