S&P upbeat despite Ireland downgrade

RATING agency Standard & Poor’s is upbeat about the future outlook for the Irish economy.

Despite cutting Ireland’s credit rating down a notch to A-/A-2 from A/A-1 the agency says the next government should broadly meet or surpass the 2014 general government primary surplus target of 1.9% of GDP.

Two thirds of the ambitious €15 billion in fiscal consolidation planned between 2011 and 2014 is scheduled to occur through expenditure cuts, it said.