Economy ‘to grow by 1.8% next year’

GROWTH will return to the economy next year but Ireland will be one of the last European countries to recover from the recession.

This is according to the latest Pricewaterhouse-Cooper (PwC) economic analysis which found that the Irish economy is expected to contract by 1.3% this year and grow by 1.8% next year.

This compares to overall European growth of 1% in 2010 and 1.4% in 2011. PwC expects the economies of all European countries to grow this year except for Ireland, Greece and Spain.