The Central Bank has lowered its economic forecast for the year, predicting the economy will grow by 0.8 per cent in 2011.
That’s slightly lower than the bank predicted in its April bulletin, when it said the economy would grow by 0.9 per cent.
The bulletin also warned that gross national product, which excludes repatriated profits of multinational firms, may decline by about 0.3 per cent. However, it predicted stronger growth in 2012, with gross domestic product expected to expand by 2.1 per cent and a rise of 1 per cent in GNP.
“The broad narrative behind these figures remains unchanged. Exports continue to grow while domestic demand remains weak, although the contraction in the latter is gradually easing,” the bank said.
