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A new financial report from the Bank of Ireland (BoI) said the credit crunch, the slowdown in the construction industry and the high price of oil would result in the country's economy contracting by 1.6 per cent this year.
Such a development would represent the first decline in Ireland's national income for 25 years, reports RTE News.
Full employment in the country assumes a jobless rate of 167,000, which is likely to be exceeded, according to the BoI's Quarterly Economic Outlook.
Dan McLaughlin, BoI's chief economist, said that while gross domestic product will contract in 2009, it is difficult to forecast by exactly how much.
In related news, the Belfast Telegraph reports that 22,000 jobs in construction and engineering are under threat of being axed.
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