November 03, 2008 at 6:00 am by Tom Lydon
The once expanding economy of Ireland is showing signs of slowed growth, leaving the short-term potential of its exchange traded fund (ETF) stunted.
In 2004, Ireland opened its doors to immigrants from former communist states to keep economic growth on the right path. But for the first time in 14 years, Ireland will see more people leave its land, with a majority of the exodus among the 170,000 workers who arrived in the past four years, reports Dara Doyle for Bloomberg.
The manufacturing and building booms that helped double the size of Ireland’s economy during the past 10 years made it the most dynamic in western Europe. The credit market freeze has taken the country to recession status and lifted unemployment to an 11-year high. RTE Business reports that the falloff in housing construction, high oil prices in the first half of 2008 and the global credit crunch will lead to a contraction in the Irish economy of 1.6% this year, the first decline in national income in 25 years.
Jonathon Saul for Forex Pros reports that economists expect Ireland’s recession to deepen next year, predicting a more than two percent contraction in the economy, with a recovery not even anticipated until 2010. Ireland is officially the first eurozone country to slip into a recession this year.
NETS ISEQ 20 Index (IQE) could reflect this fallout. It’s down 42.3% since its Aug. 22 inception.
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