The Montenegro entry addresses the crisis: video here; lyrics here.
Year: 2012
Here is the FT Alphaville take on the promissory notes saga, along with a nice selection of Latin expressions.
The national accounts release is here; the BOP release is here.
- 2011 real GDP growth is +0.7%
- But 2011 nominal GDP growth is less at +0.3% (deflation still an issue for GDP deflator)
- 2011 real GNP shrank by -2.5%
- Q4 data sees small fall in GDP, larger fall for GNP.
- Small current account surplus for 2011
- Cumulative errors and omissions in BOP for 2010-2011 of euro 19.5 billion
The Q4 2011 Quarterly National Accounts have been published by the CSO. The –1.9% seasonally adjusted drop in real GDP in Q3 has been revised to –1.1% and the first estimate for Q4 is a fall of 0.2%. Although many will claim we never exited, Ireland is technically back in a recession for the first time since the end of 2009. Real GNP fell 2.2% in the quarter.
Looking at the individual components in real terms there was a small rise in consumption and a jump of 14% in investment (though from a very low base). Government consumption declined in all four quarters in 2011. The final quarter also saw a 1.1% drop in export volumes.
The preliminary annual figures for 2011 show that real growth in the year is estimated to be 0.7%. These figures are subject to revision (as was significantly seen with the 2009 figures) and it will be June before the final figures are available.
For all our Maastricht Criteria junkies nominal GDP for 2011 is estimated to be €156,438 million, a rise of 0.3%. This is slightly above the budget day forecast of €155,250 million. Nominal GNP fell 3.4% in the year and is estimated to be €123,879 million for the year, primarily because the outflow of net factor income rose to €32,559 million from €27,785 million in 2010.
The 2011 Balance of Payments has also been published. As expected there is a small surplus on the current account. This surplus of €127 million compares to a surplus of €761 million in 2010 but remains a marked improvement on the deficits of €10 billion recorded in 2007 and 2008.
Lots more detail in the releases to be discussed.
Gavin Kostick writes:
Last September Philip Lane was kind enough to let me announce the launch of Fishamble: The New Play Company’s “Tiny Plays for Ireland” on the blog.
The call for submissions with The Irish Times resulted in over 1,700 entries – a word count of over a million. The Irish Times tell us it is the largest creative writing response they have ever hard.
I read the lot, so I had in my mind for a while there a snapshot of the concerns, hopes, fears of the Irish Times reading public at least.
The response and the quality was so overwhelming, Fishamble decided to do two productions of two complete sets of plays. You can read more about the process here.
The first production is now up and running at Project Arts Centre, and the early reviews are in.
The whole project was, in part, influenced by this blog and the comments section, where different characters, voices and perspectives jostle with each other.
Posters, readers and commenters might be particularly interested in coming on the nights of either 28th or 30th of March when I’ll be chairing a free post-show discussion on issues arising from the plays and you might meet the odd person familiar from the blog. Please feel free to say hello.
The show really is selling out (full each night so far) so book in advance here.
Perhaps the kindest comment after the show so far was words to the effect of “it’s like an attempt to take the pulse of the Irish nation – I’m pleased to see we still have one.”