Q4 2008 Macro/BOP data from CSO
This post was written by Philip Lane
The CSO has released new data today in relation to Q4 2008 and preliminary annual data for 2008. As per Karl Whelan’s preference, I will briefly focus on the Q42008-Q42007 annual changes. The year-on-year decline in GDP is 7.5 percent (GNP declined by 6.7 percent). The current account has declined from a Q42007 deficit of 5.8 percent of GDP to a trivially-small deficit of 0.3 percent of GDP in Q4 2008.
The National Accounts data release is here.
The BOP data release is here.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
The CA deficit is highly seasonal because of the timing of farm payments, so a zero in Q4 is still consistent with a sizable (if rapidly reducing) annual deficit. With Govt borrowing next year of (say) 12%, and a CA deficit of 2%, the private sector financial balance is still in massive surplus.