Deloitte Monday Briefing: Ireland Adjusts

The Monday Briefing, written by Ian Stewart, Deloitte's Chief Economist in the UK, gives a personal view on topical financial and economic issues. Please feel free to forward the Monday Briefing to your clients, colleagues and friends who can, in turn, subscribe to it at:

www.deloitte.co.uk/mondaybriefing.

• The euro crisis is a crisis of adjustment, both financial and economic. Banks and governments are trying to shed debt. Countries want to rebuild competitiveness by shaking up their economies and cutting costs. And politicians are trying to create the institutions of a durable monetary union in the most difficult of conditions.
• Progress has been slow and patchy. Doubts prevail about the ability of a number of peripheral countries to rebalance their economies, making investors nervous about the future of the euro. Yet one country, almost unnoticed, has made significant headway in the painful process of economic change.