Ireland's Economic Outlook Remains Broadly Positive, Says IMF

(RTTNews) - Ireland's economic outlook remains broadly positive but risks are tilted to the downside, the International Monetary Fund said late Friday.

Despite risks to the outlook, Ireland's capacity to repay the Fund is strong, given robust economic and fiscal performance, large cash buffers, manageable financing needs and favourable market financing conditions, the IMF Executive Board said concluding its sixth post-program monitoring discussion with Ireland.

Nonetheless, the IMF said a growth slowdown to 3.2 percent continues to be forecast in 2017, as negative Brexit adjustment takes effect and the fiscal policy stance turns counter-cyclical.

Over the medium term, growth is projected to decelerate gradually to just below 3 percent, broadly in line with potential output growth.

The IMF observed that risks stem mainly from external environment, including Brexit-related uncertainty, sustained slow-growth in Ireland's main trading partners, and external political uncertainties.

The IMF welcomed the authorities' commitment to reach the medium-term deficit target of 0.5 percent of GDP by 2018.