Irish GDP drops sharply in Q1, now growing more slowly than China

Ireland's economy hit the skids at the start of the year but even then the rate of growth dwarfed that of its neighbours, although recent slowing meant it was now expanding less quickly than the People's Republic of China.

In terms of quarterly rates of change, gross domestic product shrank by an outsized 2.6% in the first three months of 2017, according to the CSO.

That was more than the 2.0% drop economists had forecast.

Yet revisions to prior data meant that at 6.1% the year-on-year reading for GDP growth still beat some economists forecasts, although that did mark a slowdown (of sorts) from growth of 9.9%.

By way of comparison, average GDP growth in the OECD space reached 2.0% in the first quarter.