Business News

UK inflation rate falls to lower than expected 3.9% in November

20th December 2023

British inflation plunged in November to its lowest rate in over two years, prompting investors to pile further into bets that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next year. The annual rate of increase in the consumer prices index dropped to 3.9% from 4.6% in October, pushed down in part by petrol prices, […]

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ECB raises capital demands for 20 banks over bad loans

19th December 2023

The European Central Bank said today it had raised capital requirements for 20 banks after judging they had not set aside enough cash to cover for loans that had gone unpaid, a key concern for supervisors at a time of high borrowing costs. The move was part of the ECB’s push, set to continue next […]

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Build costs up by almost 25% since 2019 – BPFI

19th December 2023

Construction costs here have gone up by almost a quarter in the last four years, an analysis by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland has concluded. In its latest Housing Market Monitor, the BPFI said construction price inflation of 23% between the end of 2019 and the third quarter of this year compares to inflation […]

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Central Bank predicts economy will shrink this year

19th December 2023

The Central Bank has become the latest economic forecaster to predict that the economy will shrink this year. Its latest Quarterly Bulletin also shows that lower income families have seen their real incomes decline over the past two years due to inflation while higher income groups have seen a faster recovery. Multinational companies exporting pharmaceutical […]

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Air passenger numbers in third quarter up 13% compared to last year

18th December 2023

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that almost 1.4 million more passengers used Irish airports in the third quarter of this year compared to the same time last year. The CSO said the number of passengers travelling to and from Ireland in the third quarter rose by 2% when compared with the third […]

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Prices at the pump down again in December – AA Ireland

18th December 2023

The AA Ireland’s latest monthly fuel price survey has shown another drop in petrol and diesel prices over the last month. Petrol is down from €1.80 a litre in November to €1.72, while diesel has fallen from €1.81 to €1.72. December marked the third month in a row that prices have dropped at the pumps. […]

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Euro zone likely in recession, PMI surveys show

18th December 2023

The downturn in euro zone business activity surprisingly deepened in December, according to closely watched surveys which indicated the bloc’s economy is almost certainly in recession. It was a broad-based decline with activity deteriorating in both Germany and France and across services and manufacturing, the surveys showed. Last quarter, the euro zone economy contracted 0.1%, […]

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Inflation slows to 3.9% in November from 5.1% in October – CSO

15th December 2023

The annual rate of inflation fell to 3.9% in November, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today. This marks the first time since September 2021 that the annual rate has been less than 5%. The inflation rate had stood at 5.1% in October. Energy prices were the biggest contributor to pushing inflation up […]

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Housing commencements up almost 30% in past year

15th December 2023

Work began on 3,087 new homes across the State last month, according to commencement notices registered with the authorities. That’s up 18% on the 2,624 that were started in October of this year and a 29% boost on the number recorded in the same month of last year. 43% are homes in housing schemes, 45% […]

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Short term mortgage arrears up 3% in third quarter

15th December 2023

The number of mortgages on private homes that were in short term arrears of less than 90 days rose 3% between July and September compared to the previous quarter. But new Central Bank data today also shows that the number of mortgages in arrears over 90 days was unchanged compared to the April to June […]

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