Archive for February 2020

The hotel and guesthouse sector here experienced a mixed performance for 2019, against the backdrop of a significant fall in overseas visitor growth.  New figures from the Irish Hotels Federation show that room occupancy nationally grew marginally during the year, finishing at 73% compared to 72% in 2018.  However, the wide gap between the occupancy…

A jump in number of coronavirus cases outside China hit European shares this morning, as investors feared the outbreak will take a bigger toll on global growth than anticipated. The pan-European STOXX 600 tumbled 2.5% in early trade, on pace for its biggest percentage loss since October, with all the major regional indexes down over…

Consumer prices rose by 1.3% in the year to the end of January, according to the Central Statistics Office, maintaining the level recorded at the end of 2019. Prices fell on a monthly basis, however, by 0.7%. According to the CSO prices in education saw the biggest increase over the 12 month period, up 4.1%. …

The National Treasury Management Agency has sold €500m worth of Treasury Bills. The manager of the State’s finances said it received bids worth a total of €1.425 billion – almost three times the amount on offer. The bills have a maturity of six months and were sold at a yield of -0.535%. Today’s auction was…

EU leaders will resume negotiations this morning on the seven year budget after failing to make any breakthrough in talks late last night. There are still significant gaps between bigger net contributors and poorer member states over the size of the budget and what the spending priorities should be. Leo Varadkar is expected to join…

EU leaders will gather in Brussels in an attempt to reach agreement on the next seven-year budget which faces a shortfall of up to €75 billion due to the UK’s departure. A number of richer countries want to limit the increase in the budget to 1% of gross national income, but they are facing strong resistance from…

Social media platforms and artificial intelligence developers will face new regulations under a European Union plan published today. The European Commission says its digital strategy is designed to make technology more people-focused, while also ensuring its digital industry is not reliant on other countries in the future. It includes changes to the way data is…

European shares notched a fresh record high on Wednesday, as a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases and hopes of more stimulus from Beijing helped a recovery from fears of a sustained hit to global supply and demand. DUBLIN Glanbia, which is due to publish full-year results next week, was one of the…

The European Commission has today kept its economic forecast for moderate euro zone growth for this year and 2021.  But it raised slightly its projection for inflation, noting the spread of the coronavirus was the key downside risk.  In an interim outlook for gross domestic product (GDP) growth and consumer inflation for the 19 euro…

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has said that Ireland’s population will age more rapidly than most other countries over the next 40 years.   In a survey on the Irish economy published this afternoon, it also warns that future changes to international corporate tax rules could lower the attractiveness of Ireland to…