Irish exports could benefit from declining euro

Global Business

A slide in the euro could mean more business for Ireland exporters and aiding the country’s economic recovery. CCTV’s Lourda Sexton reported this story from Dublin.

Irish exports could benefit from declining euro

A slide in the euro could mean more business for Ireland exporters and aiding the country's economic recovery. CCTV's Lourda Sexton reported this story from Dublin.

Last year Ireland was the fastest  growing economy in the eurozone, recording GDP growth of 3.5 percent.

For an export-driven economy such as Ireland, a weak euro actually offers a positive start to 2015, as Irish exports are cheaper to non-euro markets such as the United States and the U.K.

“Things like retail sales were extremely strong last year. Led by sales of big ticket items, car sales did exceptionally well in 2014, the highest for 6 years. We had very strong growth in employment. The unemployment rate fell in every single month during 2014,” Investec chief economist Philip O’Sullivan said.

For the first nine months of 2014, the value of Irish exports increased annually by 8 percent to 7.9 billion euros.

Exports are a huge driver of the Irish economy, equivalent to 100 percent of GDP last year.

Simon Mckeever, chief executive of the Irish Exporters Association predicts that in the first quarter of 2015, Ireland will increase its exports to Europe and the U.S.

With 75 percent of Irish exports heading to Europe, the United States, and the U.K., exporters want to minimize risk and expand to China and Japan, which currently only make up 3 percent of Irish exports.