Ireland's Gross National Product (GNP) grew by 0.6% in 2002, according to preliminary figures from the Central Statistics Office today. This compares with an annual growth rate of 4.6% in 2001.
GNP, which is considered a more realistic indicator of domestic conditions, excludes the profits of foreign owned enterprises. The CSO said that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.3% last year from 2001.
The CSO figures also show that in the fourth quarter of 2002, GDP increased by 6.4% while GNP declined by 2.3% compared with the same quarter the previous year.
Consumer spending rose by 2.6% in 2002 compared with 2001, while capital investment showed an increase of 0.4%.
Jim Power of Friends First says the figures show that the Irish multinational sector did very well, especially the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors, compared with the domestic side of the economy.
He said net factor outflows - the movement of profits abroad by multinationals - totalled €18.7 billion last year, the largest recorded figure.
IIB economist Austin Hughes said a 'dense statistical fog' was making it difficult to assess the current health of the Irish economy. He said the GDP figure was distorted by the scale of multinational operations, and the buoyancy of GDP last year was largely down to the pharmaceutical sector.
But Hughes also argued that the GNP figure was too heavily influenced by a collapse in profits in a number of companies that are nominally Irish but whose operations are global. He said this meant the GNP figure probably understated activity.
