Rise in exports boosts hope on Brexit fallout

A surprisingly broad-based growth in exports in the first few months of the year show that the Irish economy may have weathered the initial fallout from Brexit following sterling’s drop against the euro since the UK’s vote last June, analysts said.

That may herald good news for Irish business as economists try and figure out just how the plan by UK prime minister Theresa May for a snap general election will affect sterling and the British economy.

The CSO figures showed that exports of both sides of the economy, which include the big pharmaceutical and technology multinationals, as well as the so-called traditional industries such as agriculture, increased their export sales in the first two months of the year.