Ireland’s economy has officially entered recession after contracting by 1.9 per cent in the third quarter, pushed lower by a drop in pharmaceutical exports.

Revisions to official data pointed to four consecutive quarters of declining gross domestic product, the Central Statistics Office said Friday. A technical recession is defined as an economy shrinking for two consecutive quarters.

“The decline reflects, in no small part, the ongoing fall-off in demand for Covid-related pharmaceutical products,” finance minister Michael McGrath said in a statement, noting a “marked softening in global economic conditions”.

But he added: “It’s not all bad news on the external front, with services exports recording solid growth and reaching a new record level.”

Ireland’s GDP data, however, come with a caveat: the numbers are regularly skewed by the impact of global companies. Modified domestic demand, the ministry’s preferred measure, was flat in the third quarter.