Business
IMF praises Ireland's response to recession
Friday, July 03, 2009
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the Irish government for its fast response to Ireland's recession, but stressed much work remained to fully mend the eurozone nation.
IMF directors "commended the scale and speed of the authorities' response so far, while noting that these efforts will need to be sustained over an extended period of time", the Fund said in its annual assessment of the Irish economy.
"Pragmatic and flexible responses as well as careful contingency planning will be required given the complex policy dilemmas to be confronted and the prospect of only modest recovery ahead."
The IMF said it welcomed Irish actions "to safeguard financial stability, backed by ready access to European Central Bank financing". It also welcomed moves to tighten regulation of the financial sector as well as public spending.
The former "Celtic Tiger" economy has been savaged by the international financial crisis and the collapse of a domestic property bubble, and became the first eurozone member to fall into recession in the current downturn.
International ratings agency Standard and Poor's earlier this month cut Ireland's sovereign credit rating as the nation's finances were savaged by a costly rescue package for the local banking sector.
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen's government has brought in a series of emergency budgets and fiscal belt-tightening packages, as Ireland is also suffering from soaring unemployment and falling prices.
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