The Irish government recently released a medium-term economic plan aimed at outlining the blueprint for economic development in the post-crisis period from now until 2020.
According to this medium-term economic plan, titled the 'Growth Strategy,' Ireland's economic growth rate is projected to be 2% in 2014, 2.3% in 2015, and 2.8% in 2016. The average unemployment rate is expected to fall below 10% by 2018 and to 8.1% by 2020, with the average unemployment rate during the peak of economic growth potentially falling below 5%. By 2018, the government aims to achieve a balanced budget.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny stated at the launch ceremony that this plan serves as a 'roadmap' for Ireland's post-crisis economic development, with the goal of recovering all jobs lost during the economic crisis by 2020 and reducing the average annual unemployment rate to half of what it was at the peak of the crisis. Kenny also noted that welfare reform is the government's primary focus for 2014.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore said at the ceremony that employment rates will gradually rise to the levels seen during the 'Celtic Tiger' economic boom over the next seven years. He jokingly remarked that as fiscal targets are met, there is no doubt the government will 'suddenly loosen the purse strings.'
After three years of receiving assistance from the 'Troika'—the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank—Ireland officially exited the bailout program on the 15th of this month, becoming the first Eurozone country to do so. Analysts believe that factors such as an improving economic situation, sufficient cash flow, and a significant decline in sovereign debt financing costs prompted Ireland to decide on a 'clean exit,' though this does not mean that Ireland's economic and fiscal problems have been completely resolved.
Since 2010, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Cyprus have successively received varying amounts of financial assistance from the 'Troika.' According to the 85 billion euro Irish bailout package approved at a special meeting of EU finance ministers in late November 2010, the actual foreign aid received by Ireland was 67.5 billion euros, far less than the 110 billion euros received by Greece.