The exchange traded fund that invests in Ireland is up 20% so far this year thanks in part to easing tensions over the Eurozone debt crisis.
Ireland is one of the so-called PIIGS countries that are seen as the weakest financially in the Eurozone: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.
The iShares MSCI Ireland (NYSEArca: EIRL) is a tiny ETF with only $8 million in assets. The fund has 21 holdings and an expense ratio of 0.52%, according to manager BlackRock.
The ETF is up 28% over the past three months.
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said Friday that the country’s economy will take off “like a rocket” as soon as the global economy starts growing again, because the austerity policies of the past three years have made it extremely competitive, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Noonan added that nominal gross domestic product growth in Ireland should reach between 4% and 6% in 2013, according to the report.
Ireland’s trade surplus hit a record high in 2011, increasing by 3%, AFP reported Friday.
iShares MSCI Ireland
