Ireland's economy barely grew in the three months to September after expanding robustly in the previous two quarters, figures from the Central Statistics Office showed Thursday.
Gross domestic product grew a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent from the second quarter, when the economy expanded 1.1 percent, revised from 1.5 percent.
Year-on-year, GDP rose 3.5 percent in the third quarter after a 7.3 growth in the previous three months, revised from 7.7 percent.
The Gross National Product rose 0.5 percent sequentially in the third quarter following 0.2 percent growth in the previous quarter. Annually, GNP climbed 2.5 percent, which was slower than the previous quarter's 8.5 percent growth.
"Irish prospects are still improving. With unemployment further falling - 10.7% in November - and consumer confidence back, it remains a question of time when consumption will start contributing more decisively to growth. With the end of austerity government expenditure should become more supportive as well," ING Bank economist Anthony Baert said.
"Finally, trends common to the Eurozone as a whole - the weaker euro, lower oil prices, the European investment programme and monetary support of the ECB - should further boost exports and investment."
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