Ireland's economic crisis is the most expensive and also deepest of any economy since the Great Depression, a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) report claims.

According to the Herald, the new IMF report says that Ireland is the only country in the world to suffer from fiscal costs, increases in public debt, and output losses due to a banking crisis.

Worryingly it also added that there is no sign of conclusion in sight to the country's debt crisis.

'Ireland holds the undesirable position of being the only country currently undergoing a banking crisis that features among the top 10 of costliest banking crises along all three dimensions, making it the costliest banking crisis in advanced economies since at least the Great Depression,' the IMF paper, titled Systemic Banking Crises Database: An Update, claimed.

'And the crisis in Ireland is still ongoing,' the paper added.

Other more advanced economies have more options available to them to exit the downturn, including credibility with financial markets, which allows them the use of options such as bank guarantees.

'Deposit freezes, while rare, are most frequently used by emerging economies, whereas guarantees on bank liabilities are more common among advanced economies,' the IMF claimed.

'Guarantees are more common among advanced economies, perhaps because of generally better institutions and access to international capital markets, rendering the announcement of guarantees more credible.'