Economic Shock On the Horizon

The Central Bank said that the virus has already "triggered an extremely severe economic shock" and said that it is unlike anything the Irish economy has ever seen before. 

The bank said that a global health crisis was fast becoming a global economic crisis. 

The Irish GDP could fall by 8.3% this year and unemployment in the country could rise to 25%, according to a quarterly bulletin published by the Central Bank. 

It added that the economy could collapse by 25% in the next three months. 

The bank is predicting that as many as 500,000 people will lose their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis and, while it expects the employment sector to recover somewhat before the end of the year, it still forecasts that unemployment will be above 10% in Ireland at the turn of the year. 

320,000 people have already been made redundant due to COVID-19, according to Mark Cassidy, Director of Economics at the Central Bank. 

The job losses will be concentrated in the hospitality, tourism, recreation, retail and construction sectors, according to Cassidy. 

The bank is also predicting a €19.6 billion ($21 billion) deficit in public finances for the year. It had previously forecast that Ireland would have a €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) surplus before Coronavirus hit Irish shores. 

Additionally, the Central Bank says that 16,000 new houses will be built in Ireland in 2020 after initially forecasting that 26,000 houses would be built.