Export rate not enough to satisfy IMF terms

RECORD export rates are still not enough to satisfy IMF bailout demands, business chiefs last night warned, as new income tax figures showed another slump.

Despite Finance Department officials insisting year-end Exchequer returns showed the country had passed its first post-emergency loan test, the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) said the strong growth was well below that needed to hit targets in the IMF four-year economic plan.

Total exports surged to a record €161bn for last year, and corporation tax pushed the overall Exchequer tax take €700m above estimates, but IEA chief executive John Whelan warned that the projection of 7.2% growth in total Irish exports in 2011 “was still well below the rate of growth in exports required to enable targets in the IMF four-year plan to be achieved”.