The Economist Intelligence Unit expects the government, comprising the dominant centre-right Fine Gael and the smaller centre-left Labour Party, to hold together until the next general election, due in 2016.
Ireland exited its EU/IMF bail-out accord at end-2013 and chose not to request a precautionary credit line. Without the constraints of a programme we expect fiscal consolidation and economic reform progress to slow.
The budget deficit narrowed from 7.7% of GDP in 2012 to 6.6% of GDP in 2013. We expect the deficit to continue to contract, narrowing to 3% of GDP in 2015, in line with the target for next year.

Highlights 7

Political outlook 8

Economic policy outlook 9

Economic forecast 11

Annual data and forecast 16

Quarterly data 17

Monthly data 18

Annual trends charts 19

Quarterly trends charts 20

Monthly trends charts 21

Comparative economic indicators 22

Basic data 23

Political structure 24

Politics 25

Economy 35

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