Celtic tiger set to roar again

Irish Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, left, toasts with Ambassador Aingeal O’Donoghue, center, and Park Sung-choon, minister of patriots and veterans affairs, with Guinness beer during a St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul on March 19. / Courtesy of MPVA

Minister promotes

Ireland as best place

to do business

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Both Korea and Ireland have been called tigers at some point in time owing to their remarkable economic growth and low unemployment, causing both wonder and jealousy among their neighbors.

After years of unprecedented boom and prosperity, the Asian and Celtic tigers shocked the world when they suddenly crashed after being hit hard by financial crises in the late 1990s and the late 2000s, respectively.

Korea’s economic nightmare began in late 1997 with the Asian financial crisis, which began with the collapse of the Thai baht and quickly spread to surrounding economies, including Korea.

The liquidity crisis prompted an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-led structural adjustment program that required grueling austerity from the country.

Many Koreans recall the crisis as the worst they have ever experienced since the nation gained independence from Japan following World War II. In August 2001, after nearly three years, Korea became the first Asian country to exit an IMF bailout program.

Approximately a decade later, Ireland faced a similar fate in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The Celtic tiger entered an 85-billion-euro bailout program by the European Union (EU) and IMF in December 2010. The program’s set of austerity measures required the country to complete more than 260 actions, including 12 quarterly reviews. In December 2013, after three years, Ireland became the first European country to leave an EU-IMF bailout program.

Brendan Howlin, the Irish minister for public expenditure and reform, said the people of the two countries learned a valuable lesson from those worst periods of time: “together, we can.”

“Both Korean and Irish people have shown how, when facing adversity, they could roll up their sleeves and make things right in a very short period of time,” the Irish minister said during a speech at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul on March 19.

“We are hardworking people. We aren’t rich in raw materials, but we are in entrepreneurship and hardworking and devoted people.”

Since taking office in 2011, Howlin has been a key figure in the recovery of the Irish economy following the banking industry crisis in 2008.

Ireland rebounded after exiting the EU-IMF bailout program, even topping Forbes Magazine’s list of the best countries in which to do business in December 2013, for the first time since the list debuted in 2005. Ireland was fourth on the list in 2014.

The country’s positive momentum continues. Last year, it’s growth rate was 4.8 percent and is expected to be 5 percent this year, according to Howlin. “This month, the Irish government launched its first ever 30-year bonds, which were all handsomely oversubscribed at an interest rate of 1.3 percent, which is among the lowest rates charged by sovereign governments anywhere,” he said.

The Irish minister stressed that his country has a pro-business environment, with generous tax benefits for investors and a highly skilled workforce. He visited Korea on March 18-21 for various St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. During the four-day visit, the Irish minister met Korean and Irish business leaders and Korean government officials and promoted Irish cuisine.

Ireland made the most of St. Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to promote Ireland as a great place to do business, and Minister Howlin’s visit to Korea was part of that effort.

“The Irish government sees St. Patrick’s Day as a global celebration and a special opportunity to promote Ireland internationally to build stronger political and economic connections and ties with friends, old and new, and to engage with the Irish community around the world,” Irish Ambassador to Korea Aingeal O’Donoghue said.

The Irish government has launched a global “greening” project, in which iconic monuments and buildings around are colored green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In Korea, the artificial islands in the Han River, called Some Sevit or Floating Islands, were colored green on March 17.

O’Donoghue said the islands’ participation in the global celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day symbolized the strong partnership and friendship between the Irish government and Seoul Metropolitan Government.