The Irish economy recorded zero growth in the second quarter, after contracting in the previous quarter, preliminary data released by the Central Statistics Office showed Thursday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) remained unchanged quarter-over-quarter, after dropping a revised 0.7 percent in the first quarter. Economists had forecast the economy to expand 0.7 percent in the second quarter, reversing the 1.1 percent fall originally recorded in the three months ended March.

Domestic expenditure and public expenditure declined by 0.4 percent and 3.9 respectively between the first quarter and the second quarter, while investment plunged 29.4 percent.

The industrial sector registered an increase of 4.6 percent. Output in distribution, transport, software and communication dropped 0.3 percent from the first quarter, while public administration and defense fell by 1.7 percent. Agriculture sector contracted 5.5 percent.

Compared to the second quarter of 2011, GDP dropped 1.1 percent, reversing first quarter's 2.1 percent gain.

Meanwhile, the gross national product (GNP) increased 4.3 percent quarter-on-quarter during the three-months ended June 2012, reversing the first quarter's 0.1 percent decline. Year-on-year, the GNP rose at a faster rate of 2.9 percent than 1.4 percent in the first quarter.

Separately, the statistical office said Ireland's current account turned to a surplus of EUR.24 billion in the second quarter from a deficit of EUR.05 billion in the first quarter, helped by a sharp fall in invisible deficit.

The deficit of invisibles, comprising services, income and current transfers, narrowed to EUR6.77 billion from EUR9.33 billion in the first quarter. The goods trade account, meanwhile, showed a surplus of EUR10 billion, up from the first quarter's EUR8.28 billion surplus.

RTTNews