What is the reason for Ireland's rapid economic development?

A few days ago, The Economist published a series of investigation reports on Ireland, which systematically summarized Ireland's impressive economic achievements. Interestingly, the survey report of The Economist in 1988 came to the conclusion that this country's economy is going to collapse-what changes have subverted the forecast in just 10 years?

Not long ago, at the invitation of the Irish government, as a member of the China news delegation, the reporter briefly visited this European island country called "Emerald Island". The fairy-tale changes of the Irish economy "Cinderella" left a deep impression on the members of the delegation.

The ugly duckling in the European Union.

"Emerald Island" is a compliment to the lush Irish pastoral scenery. On the other hand, it also reflects that Ireland has long been a relatively backward agricultural country among EU member states.

"At that time, we were really poor, and many people chose to emigrate overseas." Ms. Manahan, Director of Asia-Pacific Affairs of the Irish Foreign Ministry, told the reporter with a smile, "My father went to the United States to study engineering technology." Ms mana's letter describes the tradition of emigrating overseas, which was quite common in Ireland before 1990. Many Irish talents choose to emigrate to Britain and America to find another way out because of the long-term backwardness of their domestic economy. The data shows that until 1987, Ireland's per capita GDP is still only 69% of the EU average.

The Rise of "Celtic Tiger"

After entering 1990' s, history has been surprisingly rewritten. A set of figures recorded the rapid development of Irish economy.

According to statistics, in 2003, Ireland's per capita GDP reached 65,438+0.36% of the EU average. 1987, Irish government debt still accounted for 136% of the total GDP, but in 2003, this figure plummeted to 33%; The unemployment rate also dropped from 1987 to 4% in 2003. After experiencing the sudden development in the11990s, Ireland became the second richest country in the EU in terms of GDP per capita, and created an economic miracle with an average annual GDP growth of 7% in the11990s. ..

"Great changes in the economy have changed the image of Irish people in the EU. People call this change the' Celtic Tiger Miracle' (the Celts are the early residents of Ireland). " Ms. Mana said.

Troika behind the miracle

When it comes to the success of Irish economy, we can't help but mention its impressive software industry. According to William Harris, managing director of the Irish Science Foundation, the top ten software companies in the world have branches in Ireland, and more than 50% of the software products in the European market are produced in Ireland. The United States has become the largest market for Irish software. As early as 1998, Ireland surpassed the United States and India in software export, ranking first in the world. Software exports account for more than 10% of Ireland's total exports, effectively boosting the economy.

A large amount of foreign direct investment has become a strong support for Ireland's economic development. Even in the context of shrinking global investment in 2002, Ireland still attracted 26 billion euros of foreign direct investment. Large-scale capital inflow directly contributed to Ireland's high-tech, high-value-added export-oriented economy.

Full investment in education is the proudest decision leading to economic success. According to statistics, since 1985, the Irish government's public expenditure on education has increased by 150%, which has always been the primary expenditure when formulating the national development plan. Citizens with improved quality have become favorable conditions for economic development and attracting foreign investment.

On June 5th, Irish Prime Minister bertie ahern will pay an official visit to China, during which he will visit Shanghai. Prime Minister Ahern was accompanied by a delegation of about 200 political and business people. Irish diplomats said that this will be the largest foreign delegation organized by the government since the founding of Ireland. The picture shows Premier Ahern (right) accepting the "Wen Wei Po Silk Collector's Edition" presented by our reporter Shi Kun (middle) on behalf of this newspaper.