Personal spending shows 11% slump

PERSONAL spending fell 11.1% last year while the Government tightened the purse strings and reduced its outgoings by 5.1%, new figures have shown.

The economy shrank 7.6% with the construction sector among the worst hit by the recession as investment plummeted 37.9%,according to new detailed figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Richard Bruton, Fine Gael’s enterprise spokesman, said the figures confirmed the country had suffered the longest and deepest recession of any advanced economy in the world.