ESRI adds voice to concerns on budget giveaways

Influential think-tank the Economic and Social Research Institute has added its voice to growing chorus of commentators warning that the Government risks spoiling the recovery if it were to pump too much into the economy in its pre-election budget in October.

In its latest quarterly outlook, the think-tank paints a rosy outlook in which growth rates are rising strongly over the next few years, boosted by both exports to the US and UK and driven also by a rapid recovery in demand and consumer spending at home.

It forecasts the economy in terms of GDP will expand this year by as much 4.4% and next year by 3.7%. Those projections place the ESRI among the most optimistic of leading forecasters in Ireland and outside the country.