Goodbody Stockbrokers has raised its forecast for the Irish economy after data showed growth resumed in the first quarter of the year.

Goodbody said it expects the economy to expand 1.6 per cent this year after previously forecasting a stagnation.

“The fact that the Irish economy has emerged from recession is clearly welcome, although it trails the onset of recovery in most other developed nations,” Goodbody economist Dermot O’Leary said.

“We will have to wait until 2011 before we see growth emerge in the domestic sectors of the economy,” he added.

Yesterday’s figures showed the economy had grown for the first time in two years.