Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at €324bn last year, the revised data showed.

Most of the major world economies may have lost considerable momentum over the past year, but the US economy has continued to power ahead.

The eurozone is Ireland’s most important trading partner, taking one-third of our total exports.

The eurozone economy has lost a good deal of momentum this year, writes Oliver Mangan. 

Scotland’s large budget deficit shrank in the last financial year to its lowest since 2012 but remained far larger in percentage terms than that of the UK as a whole, Scottish government data showed.

It may have taken some time to register, but the UK vote for Brexit in mid-2016 is now really reaping its toll on the British economy.

The Irish economy could grow by as much as 4.3% this year despite various looming headwinds which could hamper its performance.

US economic growth was less sluggish than previously thought in the second quarter as exports grew more than imports and businesses raised their investments, hopeful signs for the economic outlook.

Earlier this week, for the first time in my life, I took a call from a journalist with a Chilean newspaper seeking to understand Ireland’s economic growth rate of 26.3% last year.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that the Central Statistics Office calculates growth figures for the Irish economy the same was as other European economies - but the latest figures won't be taken into account for the next Budget.

Huge upward revisions to economic growth numbers last year, which have been described as “artificial” and “illusory”, risk putting Ireland’s corporate tax regime back under the international spotlight, analysts have warned.

The transfer of corporate assets into Ireland by a handful of multinationals which led to a huge surge in Irish GDP runs the risk of putting the country’s tax regime back under the international spotlight, analysts have warned.

Economic growth will slow significantly to 4.6% this year as a host of external factors begin to turn against the economy.

French economic growth this year will fall short of the 1.5% economists say is the minimum needed to lower persistently high unemployment, the country’s central bank governor has said.

Japan’s economy is expected to have contracted slightly more than initially estimated in the final quarter of 2015, and ominously the outlook held little cheer as domestic and external demand has remained stubbornly weak at the start of this year.

Growth in the UK economy slowed last year, with GDP increasing by an estimated 2.2%, down from 2.9% in 2014. Meanwhile, inflation was much weaker than expected. The CPI rate in the UK has been stuck at between -0.1% and +0.1% since last February.

The most recent GDP data for the UK economy indicates that the pace of growth has eased slightly. It slowed from 0.7% in the second quarter to 0.5% in quarter three, on a quarterly basis. In year-on-year terms, GDP has slowed from its 3% rate registered in 2014, although at 2.3% it remains solid.