The Irish Exporters' Association (IEA) president Don Moore warned that the economy was was increasingly characterised by "negative factors" yesterday.

In an address attended by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, Mr Moore also criticised the Government's budgetary policy, which he said was influenced by the forthcoming election. Mr Moore was speaking at the IEA presentation of its "Basel II toolkit" - a software package that helps exporters deal with new business lending guidelines - at Trinity College in Dublin.

He said export competitiveness was "conspicuously absent" from the economy, and said growth was becoming over-reliant on the property market. He also accused the Government's policies of contributing to inflation before the last election.

"Poorly timed tax cuts and a pre-election spending splurge led to inflation of 5 per cent, leading to what we now call 'Rip-Off Ireland'. Given that we are in a pre-election period, it is hard to avoid a sense of déjà vu", he said.

"Ireland's inflation rates mightn't be so bad if they were the same as our competitors. That is not unfortunately the case; Irish rates remain considerably higher than most of our competitors."

The rate of inflation has risen from 2.5 per cent in December to 3.9 per cent in May, latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show. The CSO publishes inflation statistics for June today.

Mr Cowen said the Government would not be complacent in managing the economy, but said the basis of Ireland's prosperity was undergoing change and that the only way for the Republic to compete was "by skills and ideas".