Archive for March 2022

The battered euro took a breather today ahead of this week’s European Central Bank meeting, while commodity currencies eased from recent peaks as investors reckoned war-driven surges in energy, grains and metals could crimp long-term demand. The euro hovered around $1.0913 in Asian trade, a modest recovery from Monday’s 22-month low of $1.0806. The euro…

Two new statutory codes of practice have been launched to help eliminate pay inequality and tackle workplace harassment and sexual harassment. The measures were developed by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The new codes of practice, published in the week of International Women’s Day, set out the procedures and steps to ensure that…

Euro zone economic growth was driven mainly by investment and rising inventories over the last three months of 2021, as household consumption dropped because of another wave of Covid-19 infections. The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat confirmed its earlier estimates that gross domestic product in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.3% on a…

Higher security standards for certain card payments have come into effect. The changes are part of the ongoing rollout of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) and relate to recurring card payments such as subscriptions where the cardholder’s details are retained for future use. From today, service providers and online retailers must process these payments in line…

The Pandemic Unemployment Payment will be reduced to €208 a week from today, in the next step in the winding down of the scheme. People who previously earned less than €151.50 per week will receive a payment of €150. The PUP was first introduced in March 2020 and at one stage it was paid at…

Measures to give electricity users a €200 credit on their bills has been signed into law and it is expected that people will start receiving the discount from next month. The €200 credit, designed to soften the blow of rising energy costs, will be listed on people’s bills as a €176.22 credit line – but…

Oil prices soared more than 9% today, touching their highest since 2008, as the US and European allies mull a Russian oil import ban and delays in the potential return of Iranian crude to global markets fuelled tight supply fears. Brent crude futures jumped $12.61, or 10.6%, to $130.72 a barrel early this morning. US…

This week was a busy one in the Irish banking landscape as AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB all reported annual results for 2021. There were many angles arising – from a return to profits, to the resumption of dividends, and progress on the purchase of new assets, to the reduction of the State’s…

Since the end of last summer, inflation has rebounded across our own economy as well as the rest of the euro area, the UK and the US. But this week, as the war in Ukraine became more brutal and the impact of sanctions against Russia rippled out, it became clearer that what we’ve experienced up…

One of the surprises of the recession caused by the pandemic is that, unlike the financial crisis over a decade ago, this time round there has not been significant permanent destruction of jobs nor a semipermanent rise in unemployment. Quite the contrary: many economies, including Ireland, are experiencing shortages of workers in some sectors, as…