Business News

The rate of unemployment remained at a 10-year low of 5.3% in December, new figures from the Central Statistics office show today. The CSO said the seasonally adjusted number of people who were unemployed in December stood at 127,100, a decrease of 20,000 when compared to December 2017. The country’s unemployment rate has fallen from […]

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the volume of retail sales edged 0.1% lower in November on a monthly basis. But retail sales were up 3.6% on an annual basis, the CSO added. The figures were lower than expected. When car sales are excluded, the CSO said that monthly retail sales rose […]

The National Treasury Management Agency has hired a syndicate of banks and brokers to sell a new 10-year bond that a market source said was likely to raise around €3 billion. That potentially could cover a fifth of the NTMA’s annual funding needs. The NTMA has kicked off its funding drive with a syndicated sale […]

Employers’ group Ibec says economic growth will be lower this year as a result of Brexit but also because the economy is at a mature phase of the business cycle. The group also warns that a shortage of workers is already starting to have an effect on companies. Ibec says growth will be around 4% […]

The Minister for Finance has asked officials to begin preparing legislative changes needed to allow credit unions charge higher interest rates on loans and financial products. If approved, the move would see the cap on interest rates rise from 1% per month to 2%. But flexibility would also be introduced to allow the interest rate […]

A total of €482m has been paid by households in Local Property Tax to Revenue for 2018. This includes about €2m in household charge arrears. Revenue also reported a high compliance rate of 97%, which is in line with previous years. Today’s figures from Revenue show that Carlow was the most compliant county when it […]

British Prime Minister Theresa May will continue efforts to win over Conservative critics of her Brexit deal as MPs return to Westminster, but both wings of the party warned that the plan is unlikely to receive support. As the Commons returns from its Christmas break, Mrs May is expected to step up efforts to woo […]

The Revenue Commissioners collected €54.5 billion in taxes and duties for the Exchequer in 2018, according to preliminary results published today. Revenue completed 572,785 audit and compliance interventions, which yielded €572.6 million for the government coffers. They settled 22 tax avoidance cases yielding €5.7 million and secured 17 criminal convictions for serious tax evasion and […]

Mortgage lending recorded its highest growth rate since 2009 during the month of November, according to figures published by the Central Bank, continuing a trend of positive lending seen in recent months. Net mortgage lending was €131 million in November, while annual growth was €964 million or 1.3%. Banks held €12.3 billion more in household […]

Irish banks are now required to give mortgage customers more information about their loan in order to help them save money by moving to a better rate or switching provider. This includes flagging in advance with borrowers when their fixed-rate term is coming to an end, and letting them know of better mortgage options that […]