Update: 30th July 2015
Economic Overview We have Restored the Economy • 104,000 jobs have been created since the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs in 2012; and 41,300 jobs in the last 12 months. Jobs
• Unemployment rate is down to 9.7% from a peak of 15.1% in Feb 2012 • Unemployment has shrunk in all 8 regions since the Action Plan for Jobs
Growth
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The economy has recovered to the same size it was before the crash.
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This follows GDP growth of 5.2% in 2014; we were the fastest growing economy in Europe. This continues in 2015 with 1.6% growth in Q1.
• Domestic demand grew in 2014 for the first time since 2007. • International confidence is restored. We sold a 10 year bond in October Bond Yields
for a 1.63% yield, compared to 14% yields in July 2011. • Regained ‘investment-grade’ status with Moody’s / S&P / Fitch.
We are Repairing the Damage • The deficit has fallen from €22bn in 2010 to a forecast €5bn in 2015. Deficit
• We did not increase income tax and have now started reducing it & USC • The number of primary home mortgages in arrears has decreased by 38,200 mortgages or 26.7% since the peak in June 2013.
Mortgage Arrears
• This is after the Personal Insolvency Bill in December 2012, the launch of the Insolvency Service of Ireland in March 2013, and the Central Bank’s mortgage arrears targets for the main banks in March 2013. • The no. of mortgages in negative equity has halved since 2012. • FG in government only put €17.8bn into the pillar banks and we will get all this back in time; we put nothing into the dead banks of Anglo / INBS.
Banking Cost
• It was FF who bailed out Anglo and we will not get all this money back But FG have reduced this cost by getting rid of the promissory notes. • Only 20% of our national debt is from the banks. The majority is due to the deficit created by FF, borrowing to fund Social Welfare, Health etc. • Only approx €800m of our €7.5bn in interest costs is banking related.