Economy - overview The economy is small and trade dependent. Agriculture, once the mostimportant sector, is now dwarfed by industry, which accounts for 38% of GDP,about 80% of exports, and employs 26% of the labor force. Although exportsremain the primary engine for Ireland's robust growth, the economy is alsobenefiting from a rise in consumer spending and recovery in both constructionand business investment. Since the 1980s, inflation has fallen sharply andchronic trade deficits have been transformed into annual surpluses. Unemploymentremains a serious problem, however, and job creation is the main focus ofgovernment policy. To ease unemployment, Dublin aggressively courts foreigninvestors and recently created a new industrial development agency to aidsmall indigenous firms.

GDP purchasing power parity - $59.9 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 7% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $16,800 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 8.9%
industry: 38.6%
services: 52.5% (1994)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 1.8% (1996 est.)

Labor force
total: 1.474 million (1996 est.)
by occupation: services 62.3%, manufacturing and construction 26.0%, agriculture, forestry,and fishing 10.6%, utilities 1.1% (1996 est.)

Unemployment rate 11.9% (April 1996)

Budget
revenues : $22.6 billion
expenditures: $23.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $4.3 billion (1995)

Industries food products, brewing, textiles, clothing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,machinery, transportation equipment, glass and crystal

Industrial production growth rate 8.9% (1995 est.)

Electricity - capacity 3.62 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production 17.9 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 4,343 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat; meat and dairy products

Exports
total value: $43.4 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: chemicals, data processing equipment, industrial machinery, live animals,animal products
partners: EU 70% (UK 26%, Germany 14%, France 9%), US 6%

Imports
total value: $32.7 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities : food, animal feed, data processing equipment, petroleum and petroleumproducts, machinery, textiles, clothing
partners: EU 58% (UK 37%, Germany 7%, France 4%), US 17%

Debt - external $17.5 billion (1995)

Economic aid
donor: ODA, $81 million (1993)

Currency 1 Irish pound (ĢIr) = 100 pence

Exchange rates Irish pounds (ĢIr) per US$1 - 0.6123 (January 1997), 0.6248 (1996),0.6235 (1995), 0.6676 (1994), 0.6816 (1993), 0.5864 (1992)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Ireland on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ireland Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ireland Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.