The slide in Ireland's gross domestic product halted in the second quarter from the preceding three months, defying forecasts for a fall and signalling signs of stability in one of the West's worst performing economies. Ireland's GDP was broadly flat in the second quarter compared with economists' forecast of a 1.5 percent fall and a revised decline of 2.3 percent in January to March on the back of a tentative revival in consumer spending and export growth.
"It's starting to show signs of stability after the collapse in the fourth quarter last year and first quarter this year," said Rossa White, chief economist with stockbrokers Davy. The OECD has said Ireland will post the biggest economic contraction in the industrialised world this year - a fall of 9.8 percent - but Dublin-based economists have started to revise their forecasts on the back of improvements in retail sales and resilient exports. The most recent Reuters poll shows economists forecasting a 7.95 percent fall in GDP this year, on a median basis, still a record drop but an improvement from the 8.45 percent forecast fall in the previous survey.