Republic to outpace US, Europe - report

The Republic will be the top growth centre among Orgnisation for Economic co-operation and Development (OECD) countries between now and 2020, outpacing the US and all of Europe, according to a new Deutsche Bank analysis.

The report, penned by economists in Frankfurt, finds that Irish growth will be supported by the highest rate of population growth in the OECD. The population is set to grow by 1.1 per cent each year, the economists say.

Asian economies are still forecast to be better outright performers however, with India, Malaysia and China to post the highest global growth rates in the period between 2006 and 2020.

When a group of 32 countries including the Asian powerhouses is considered, the Republic will have the sixth-strongest rate of gross domestoc product (GDP) growth, with an average of 3.8 per cent.

GDP per capita, or per person, is forecast to grow by 3 per cent per year.

This would, in theory, leave Irish people better off in 2020 than their equivalents in all other major economies aside from the US.

The report's authors point out however that a "large share" of income generated in the Irish economy goes to foreigners through the multinational sector.

This means that the income of the average Irish person might be lower than pure forecasts on GDP per capita would suggest, they acknowledge.

A similar point was made by the Economic and Social Research Institute in its most recent economic commentary.

Long-term economic forecasts are notoriously hard to make, so the Deutsche Bank report naturally carries a health warning.

Deutsche Bank in London has warned that the forecasts, which were drawn up in Germany, are "speculative".