Aim to beat troika target, Ireland told

IRELAND should be striving to “over-perform” in its efforts to meet its annual recovery targets and should try to reduce its budget deficit ahead of schedule, the OECD said yesterday.

The latest Irish-related survey from the economic think-tank is broadly positive about the health of Ireland’s economy.

The Paris-based body upped its outlook for Irish GDP growth for 2011 from 0% to 1.2% and said we now “appear better than many of the other hard-hit European countries” and can make “an orderly return” to a more balanced financial position, despite amassing one of the highest national debt levels.