Business News

The European Central Bank will raise interest rates by 25 basis points on July 27, according to all economists in a Reuters poll, a slight majority of whom were now also expecting another hike in September. Inflation in the euro zone has almost halved, down to 5.5% in June from a peak of 10.6% last…

The June sunshine boosted spending in pubs by 28% compared to the previous month, new figures from AIB show. Spending in hotels jumped by 12%, while restaurant spend increased by 7%. The data shows that spending in pubs and restaurants peaked on 24 June, the day of Dublin Pride. “This information is vital for businesses,…

A €1 increase in the personal rates of all weekly paid social welfare schemes in October’s budget would cost €69.4 million, according to new estimates. If an additional €1 was also to be paid to dependent adults and children, it would cost €89.4 million. While a €1 increase in the personal rates of all weekly…

The Tax Strategy Group paper on income tax has examined the issue of refundable tax credits. This is when those on low incomes do not earn enough to use up all of their available tax credits. A change would allow these taxpayers to receive the value of the unused credits. The Tax Strategy Group is…

Hairdressers and restaurant owners have warned that if the reduced 9% VAT rate increases back to 13.5% again as planned at the end of August, it will put some out of businesses. In February the Government extended the 9% VAT rate further until September 1 as part of measures to assist those in the tourism,…

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Irish unadjusted exports of goods decreased by €1.2 billion to €16.7 billion in May compared to the same time last year. When seasonally adjusted, exports of goods fell by more than €400m in May from the previous month. Exports of medical and pharmaceutical products decreased by…

Fuel prices remained stable in July and are virtually unchanged compared to June, the latest AA fuel prices survey shows. The average petrol price is €1.65 in July, the same as in June, with the average price for diesel rising by a marginal two cents to hit €1.55. “Following the duty increases last month, we…

Job vacancies fell by 25% in the second quarter of the year, on an annual basis, according to the latest Jobs Index from hiring platform IrishJobs. The report finds that the fall is linked to the post-Covid hiring surge that occurred in 2022. On a quarterly basis job vacancies fell by 4% and are now…

On paper, the job of a Central Bank Governing Council sounds fairly straight forward. Maintain price stability and ensure the stability of the financial system. The guiding principle for the first is to keep the annual rate of consumer price increases to around 2%. Sounds achievable, but that is much easier said than done, as…

The Irish economy, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), contracted by 2.8% in the first three months of the year, updated data from the Central Statistics Office has found. Last month, early data from the CSO suggested that GDP between January and March had fallen by 4.6%. That, coupled with a downward revision to…