Ireland has been identified as one of the few growth bright spots in Europe in the outlook.

The global economy will this year grow at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis, with a deep slowdown in China and other emerging economies masking a strengthening recover in rich countries. Ireland was identified as one of the few growth bright spots Europe in the IMF outlook.

2015 is the fifth consecutive year that average growth in emerging economies has decline, the fund predicts in its twice yearly world economic outlook. This drag on the global growth is sufficient to pull it down to 3.1 per cent this year even though advanced economies will post their best performance since 2010.

IMF is forecasting Irish GDP growth of 4.8 per cent this year and 3.8 per cent next year, well below recently upgraded official forecasts of 6.2 percent and 4.2 per cent in 2016.

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