Noonan growth forecast doubts

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan’s forecast for faster economic growth this year may prove too optimistic, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

Gross domestic product will rise by 1% in 2012, according to the median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Last month, Mr Noonan forecast expansion of 1.3%, quickening from an estimated 1% last year.

Cooling global growth is already hampering Ireland’s hopes of an export-led recovery. The nation’s economy shrank at the fastest pace in more than two years in the third quarter, as the euro-region crisis spread beyond Ireland, Greece and Portugal.