Irish economy shrinks in Q1, but skirted recession

DUBLIN, July 12 (Reuters) - Ireland's economy shrank by 1.1 percent in the first quarter of the year but revised figures from a quarter earlier showing a 0.7 percent rise rather than 0.2 percent fall meant the country did not fall back into recession last year.

Growth for 2011 was also revised sharply up to 1.4 percent from a provisional 0.7 percent, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) confirmed on Thursday after inadvertently releasing the data for a short period a day ahead of schedule.

Economists surveyed by Reuters this week had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter from January to March.

Gross National Product (GNP), seen by some economists as a more accurate indicator of the state of the economy because it strips out the earnings of Irish-based multinationals, fell 1.3 percent in the quarter, compared to a 0.8 percent increase expected by the economists polled by Reuters.

Ireland's current account surplus came in at 1.045 billion euros in the first quarter.