Some pick up in economic growth is likely in 2009 on the basis that house-building activity will stabilise or contract only modestly, and there will be some recovery in the global economy. At this stage, growth in Irish GDP and GNP are forecast to recover to 3.6 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively, in 2009.
Property prices and private-sector indebtedness I would now like to turn to recent developments in the property market – both residential and commercial. We have come through a buoyant period in the residential market. In previous years, the Central Bank expressed its concern about the persistently high rate of capital appreciation.