According to figures released today by the Central Statistics Office, the Irish economy grew by 6.9% in GDP terms in 2002, but GNP expanded by just 0.1% over the year, the lowest figure for 20 years. This confirms preliminary estimates.
GDP growth in 2002 was driven strongly by the output of foreign direct investment enterprises, especially in the chemicals sector. Profits of these enterprises are excluded when calculating GNP.
Details of expenditure on GNP show that consumer spending maintained an upward trend during 2002 with an increase of 8.9% over the year. The increase in Government expenditure was 14.4%. When price rises are discounted the real increases in these sectors were 2.7% and 9.4% respectively.
Investment in new buildings and capital equipment rose by 6.2% in money terms which is equivalent to 1.7% in real terms. The value of stocks remained almost unchanged during 2002.
Exports of goods and services exceeded imports by €24.144bn in 2002 as compared with €17.236bn in 2001. This rise of €6.908bn in the export surplus was more than offset by an increase of €7.620bn in net factor income outflows to the rest of the world.
