Archive for December 2019

US disruption of the global economic order has reached a major milestone as the World Trade Organization (WTO) loses its ability to intervene in trade wars. This threatens the future of the Geneva-based body. Two years after starting to block appointments, the US will finally paralyse the WTO’s Appellate Body, which acts as the supreme court…

A study from the Central Bank has found that 34,000 new dwellings will be needed each year for the next decade to keep up with demand.   The demand for housing comes from a natural increase in the population and more people coming to live in the country.  At the peak of the boom in…

Activity in the construction sector declined for the third month in a row, the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index from Ulster Bank shows. Ulster Bank’s Construction PMI showed a reading of 48.2 in November, up from 46.2 in October. Any figure under 50 signals contraction in the industry.  The November slowdown included a decline in activity…

A new survey shows that 88% of Irish food companies expect revenue growth in the year ahead, with 34% of these companies expecting revenue growth of over 10%.  The SME Irish Food Barometer was carried out by PwC and Love Irish Food. It also reveals that while companies are optimistic about the growth prospects for their own…

The unemployment rate held steady at 4.8% in November to remain at the lowest level in almost 13 years, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.  The CSO said the seasonally adjusted number of people who were unemployed stood at 117,800 in November, up marginally from October.   But when compared to November last…

Euro zone business activity stayed near stall speed last month, with manufacturing seemingly continuing to act as a drag on the bloc’s dominant services industry as well as the economy as a whole.  Despite some optimistic signs in today’s survey, that picture is likely to disappoint policymakers at the European Central Bank. In September, the…

The country’s service sector growth bounced back strongly last month from a seven-year low as business confidence rose to its highest level since June amid firmer demand from customers, a survey showed today.  A slowdown in manufacturing activity had threatened to spread in October to the services sector, where a long expansion in new orders…

The Central Bank will conduct a “deep dive” into the role of property funds in the domestic commercial real estate sector and assess whether a macroprudential response is needed to any potential risks, Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said today. Research from the Central Bank showed that Irish investment funds now account for more than 35% of…

The Central Bank has decided not to make any changes to mortgage lending rules here that limit how much people can borrow from banks in order to fund house purchases.  Following a review, the regulator has concluded that the measures continue to meet their objectives of strengthening bank and borrower resilience. It also said the…

New figures from Banking & Payments Federation Ireland show strong growth in mortgage approvals figures for October, driven by demand from first-time buyers. The BPFI figures show that a total of 4,514 mortgages were approved in October . Of these 51.6% were for first-time buyers while mover purchasers accounted for 27%. BPFI also said that…