The following are the European Commission’s interim economic forecasts for Ireland and the EU respectively:

Economic growth:

2009 Ireland: -5%; EU average: -1.8%;

2010 Ireland: 0%; EU: 0.5%

Budget deficit:

2009 Ireland: -11%; EU: -4.4%;

2010 Ireland: -13%; EU: -4.8%

Unemployment:

2009 Ireland: 9.7%; EU: 8.7%;

2010 Ireland: 10.7%; EU: 9.5%

Source: European Commission