The coronavirus crisis is set to blow a €23billion black hole in the economy this year.
And if the lockdown has to continue through to October, the blow could be 50% worse with a national debt for this year alone hitting over €30billion at least in a worst case scenario.
The Government is bracing for unemployment rates of 22% this year and only getting back to a more manageable rate below 10% sometime next year.
The main measure of how an economy performs, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is projected to fall by 10.5% this year.
But this is only if the lockdown is lifted in this economic quarter.
If the severe restrictions aren’t lifted until the fourth quarter, October, the GDP collapse will be a massive 15.25%.
The shocking stats are revealed in the update that the Government must provide to the EU by the end of April every year, the SPU (Stability Programme Update).
Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, said: “The Irish economic landscape, in common with elsewhere, has been turned on its head in recent weeks.
“The necessary restrictions to limit the transmission of the Covid-19 virus have resulted in a severe recession and unprecedented levels of unemployment’.
“My Department is projecting that GDP will fall by 10.5 per cent this year, with measures taken to combat Covid19 here and internationally resulting in a sharp contraction of both domestic and external demand.
“However, the gradual recovery assumed in the second half of the year is projected to gain momentum next year, with the economy growing by 6 per cent and unemployment falling to below 10 per cent next year.
“It is expected that economic activity will reach its pre-crisis level in 2022.”
