DUBLIN: Ireland's gross domestic product grew by a record 11.1pc quarter-on-quarter from July to September, rebounding from one of the euro zone's shallower recessions as much of the economy re-opened after a coronavirus lockdown by the third quarter.

Irish GDP fell by 3.2pc quarter-on-quarter from April to June, revised on Friday from an initial estimate of -6.1pc.

The country's large multinational sector sheltered the national accounts from the initial, long lockdown of the economy.

Modified domestic demand, a measure that strips out some of the ways multinationals can distort Irish GDP, jumped by 18.7pc quarter-on-quarter from July to September, after falling 15.5pc in the second quarter.

Ireland exited its initial lockdown at a slower pace than most, with the bulk of the economy re-opening by the end of June. It was also among the first to tighten restrictions and banned indoor restaurant dining in Dublin in mid-September, potentially affecting the third-quarter figures.

The Distribution, Transport, Hotel and Restaurants sector posted a quarter-on-quarter gain of 46.9pc in the third quarter, the Central Statistics Office said. The multinational-dominated industry sector grew by 4.6pc.

Ireland's finance ministry expected GDP to fall by 3.5pc for the year as a whole when it revised down its forecasts after the economy moved to the highest level of COVID-19 restrictions six weeks ago. Those constraints were largely lifted this week.

GDP was up 3.8pc for the first nine months of the year, the stats office said. However, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe noted that GDP is not an accurate measure of the Irish economy and that domestic demand was still down in annual terms and likely to fall again this quarter.

A range of data has, however, suggested the shutting down hospitality and non-essential retail from Oct. 21 to Dec. 1 has been nowhere near as damaging to the economy than the first, wider lockdown.

Credit and debit card spending fell by just 7pc for much of the period.