The lately used derisory acronym is meant to denote Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.
According to the Irish Independent, NCB's claim that Ireland should not be bunched together with the porcine four came as some Italian analysts have starting using just one "i" in the acronym - and it referring to Ireland, not Italy.
Economists in countries that have been included in the PIIGS nickname are trying to argue that their countries should not be bundled in with Greece, which is in particularly bad financial shape of late.
"In our view, Ireland should not be grouped with the southern European economies because it is a more dynamic, productive, flexible economy with a high-value added exporting sector," the NCB economists argued in a report.
"The culmination of these factors is that the Irish economy is likely to run current account surpluses more often than not post-2010, just like it did in the period 1992-2002," they stated.
