Dublin crosses the finish line. Ireland is the first European country to complete the aid program and thus exit the bailout plan set up by the Troika (EU, ECB and IMF). This was announced by Finance Minister Michael Noonan, three years after the start of the international aid plan.
“It is not the end of the tunnel – the minister specified -. It is a first and very significant milestone to get out of it. We must continue to proceed with the same type of policies”.
In any case, Dublin has achieved the final objectives envisaged by the aid programme: the Government forecasts that the economy will grow by 2% in 2014, while the unemployment rate has returned below 13%, from the peak of 15,1% in 2012. Ireland is therefore able to finance itself without the help of international credit.
Noonan then launched the proposal to reduce income tax in the next two budgets: "If we can make changes that help the economy grow better and create new jobs, we will."
