19.07.201806:49:00UTC+00Ireland GDP Contracts In Q1

Irish economy contracted in the three months ended March, after expanding in the previous three quarters, preliminary data from the Central Statistics Office showed Thursday.

In real terms, gross domestic product decreased 0.6 percent sequentially in the first quarter, reversing a 2.8 percent rise in the previous quarter.

On the expenditure side, personal consumption, which accounted for 50 percent of domestic demand, dropped 0.3 percent over the quarter, while gross capital formation advanced by 0.6 percent.

Both exports and imports slid by 5.8 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. On an annual basis, GDP growth improved to 9.1 percent in the March quarter from 6.5 percent in the December quarter.

Data also showed that the current account surplus for the first quarter was EUR 9.55 billion, up from EUR 9.41 billion in the fourth quarter.