DUBLIN, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- As the Irish economy continued to grow at a solid pace, the Central Bank of Ireland on Thursday raised its economic growth forecasts for this year and next.
In its latest quarterly bulletin, the central bank said the forecast for Irish GDP growth is revised upwards by 0.4 percent to 4.9 percent this year and by 0.3 percent to 3.9 percent in 2018.
"Growth continues to be driven by the strength of activity on the domestic side of the economy, which is benefiting from sustained employment growth," it said.
The central bank predicted the number of people in work will rise by 90,000 by the end of next year, while the unemployment rate will fall to 5.6 percent.
It said domestic demand is set to grow by 4.2 percent this year and 3.9 percent next year.
But the central bank cautioned that Brexit uncertainty remained a risk for the country.
"We must not underestimated the threat that Brexit poses to our longer term prosperity given our exposure to the UK economy," said Gabriel Fagan, the central bank's chief economist.
Other risks facing the Irish economy include exchange rates and global economic and trading conditions.
