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Ireland set to exit EU-IMF bailout

Ireland is set to become the first eurozone country to exit its bailout but Prime Minister Enda Kenny says there are still tough times ahead.

Ireland will become the first eurozone country to exit its bailout in December, Prime Minister Enda Kenny says.

He warns, however, that there is still some way to go to full recovery.

Ireland was forced to turn to the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for an 85-billion-euro ($A121.96 billion) bailout in 2010 after its banks collapsed and its overheated property market went into meltdown.

Kenny told a conference of his Fine Gael party on Saturday there were "fragile times" ahead and a budget due on Tuesday would be tough, but that Ireland was ready to leave the bailout.

"Tonight I can confirm that Ireland is on track to exit the EU-IMF bailout on December 15. And we won't go back," he said.

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"It won't mean that our financial troubles are over. Yes, there are still fragile times ahead. There's still a long way to go.

"But at last, the era of the bailout will be no more. The economic emergency will be over."

Kenny admitted the budget would include another 2.5 billion euros in tax rises and spending cuts.

But he said it would leave Ireland running a 4.8 per cent deficit next year, and pledged that the government would publish a new economic plan for the medium term by the end of the year.

Ireland enjoyed double-digit economic growth for a decade from the mid-1990s, earning it the nickname of the Celtic Tiger, but it was hammered by the 2008 global financial crisis.

In return for the bailout, the government was forced to introduce stringent austerity measures.

But it has been described as a "poster boy" for bailed-out EU economies, exiting recession in the second quarter of this year with growth of 0.4 per cent thanks to solid expansion of its construction and export sectors.

If Ireland does leave the scheme in December, it will be the first of the four bailed-out eurozone countries to do so.

Financial packages have also been given to Cyprus, Greece and Portugal.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


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