Ireland Set to Boost Spending as Economic Threats Grow
(Bloomberg) — Ireland’s government is set to boost spending to counter the dual threats of Brexit and the pandemic, as new restrictions threaten to derail a nascent economic recovery.
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Shoppers walk along Donegall Place in view of the Belfast City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K., on Friday, Jan. 3, 2020. Nationalists who want to bring the island of Ireland together made advances in the U.K. general election while unionist parties that want to remain in the U.K.lost their majority. Brexit may have blurred the lines between political tribes in the U.K., but in Northern Ireland it’s entrenched them even more.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe will lay out the 2021 budget from about 1 p.m. in Dublin, a week after the coalition government moved the nation to a Level 3 lockdown, meaning most bars, restaurants and hotels are closed again. Among the measures being floated are a 5 billion-euro ($5.9 billion) fund to deal with the virus and Brexit, more health spending and a cut in sales tax for the hospitality industry.

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Donohoe’s strategy contrasts with Ireland’s last experience of economic crisis a decade ago, when the government slashed spending and raised taxes to win back the confidence of international lenders. The coronavirus response is one being echoed across Europe as countries try to protect businesses and jobs amid a resurgence of cases.
“Like others, the Irish government will eventually face the difficult task reducing the size of government spending,” Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin, said. “But with large immediate threats to the Irish economy, this is a time to keep the foot on the fiscal accelerator.”
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