Thursday’s Top Stories: ESRI cuts domestic growth forecast again, Kinahan ‘lieutenant’ Liam Byrne extradited to UK

ESRI cuts domestic growth forecast again as Irish households and businesses tighten belts

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has cut its domestic economic growth forecasts for a third time this year as households and businesses rein in spending amid the cost-of-living crisis, rising interest rates and a slowdown in global economic activity.

Irish modified domestic demand (MDD), which strips out some of the ways multinationals can distort activity, is now expected to expand by 0.6 per cent this year, the ESRI said in its latest quarterly outlook report. That equates to a third of the pace projected two months ago and a fraction of the 3.8 per cent growth rate outlined in its first report of the year.

The ESRI has also gradually reduced its MDD estimate for next year to 2 per cent, half the rate predicted at the start of the year.

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