The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office today show that the country's gross domestic product grew by 4.8% in the third quarter of 2005 compared with the same time last year.
The CSO figures say that Gross National Product for the same time rose by 7%. The profits of foreign owned companies are excluded from GNP.
Explaining the figures, the CSO says that GNP is also affected by other income flows between residents and non-residents, the timing of which can be very variable on a quarterly basis. It says that therefore, GNP is more volatile on a quarterly basis than GDP.
Today's CSO figures show that consumer spending for the third quarter was up 6.5% on the same time last year, while capital investment rose by 7.7%.
In the third quarter of 2005, net exports were €172m lower than the same time last year. The volume of industry increased by 3% compared with the third quarter of 2004.
* Other figures from the CSO today show that the current account of the Balance of Payments posted a deficit of €381m in the third quarter. This was much lower than the negative balances for the previous two quarters, and slightly lower than the third quarter deficit of €532m in 2004.
But the CSO says that over the first nine months of the year, the accumulated deficit of €2.991 billion was €1.7 billion higher than the same time last year. This is mainly due to a fall-off in the merchandise surplus from over €24 billion in the first three quarters of 2004 to €22.6 million the same time last year.
