Related News
Ireland becomes 1st eurozone country to exit 3-year bailout
Print Edition
Ireland yesterday formally exited its three-year bailout program, becoming the first eurozone nation to do so, but authorities warned of further austerity to ensure economic recovery.
Dublin turned to the International Monetary Fund and European Union in November 2010 for an 85 billion-euro (US$115 billion) rescue package after a banking crash and one of history’s worst housing bubbles.
After painful belt-tightening Ireland is now returning unaided to the international lending markets — while eurozone strugglers Greece, Portugal and Cyprus remain locked into the bailout process.
“It’s an important moment for Ireland and for our people,” Prime Minister Enda Kenny told the Irish Times newspaper in an interview published on Friday.
“Our credibility is being restored internationally and our name is in good standing.”
Kenny was set to deliver a state of the national address on Irish television later yesterday. It is only the second time he has done so since coming to power in a general election called shortly after Ireland entered the bailout.
The end of the bailout means Dublin will now have greater control over economic decision-making after three years of stringent oversight by the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank — the so-called troika of lenders.
The troika insisted on tax rises, structural reforms and the sale of state assets in exchange for the bailout, and assessed Ireland’s progress every three months.
Ireland has returned to growth, unemployment is falling and the banking sector has been cut to a more appropriate scale to match the size of the economy but analysts agree the banks remain a risk.
The IMF approved the 12th and last review of Ireland’s progress on Friday, allowing a final US$890 million payout. To mark the end of the bailout program, the IMF’s managing director Christine Lagarde praised Ireland’s “steadfast policy implementation.”
But Lagarde warned of “significant economic challenges” ahead.
“Unemployment is too high, public debt sustainability remains fragile, and heavy private sector debts and banks’ slow progress in resolving nonperforming loans weigh on domestic demand,” Lagarde said in a statement.
Later this week, Dublin will publish a medium-term economic strategy outlining its post-bailout policies.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
