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Oil rose today as renewed concerns over tight supply dominated market sentiment after Saudi Arabia warned that the major oil producer could cut output to correct a recent oil price decline. Brent crude gained 42 cents, or 0.4%, to $96.90 a barrel in early trade, after a choppy session yesterday when they dropped by more…

Having once been the butt of the joke amongst gamers, microtransactions have grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. Today, some of the most popular games in the world are built almost entirely on the model – as well as countless smartphone and tablet apps. But they’ve proven controversial too, with critics saying they encourage bad…

The Government is seeking the return of almost €34m which was wrongly claimed in Pandemic Unemployment Payments (PUP) at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Department of Social Protection told RTÉ’s This Week programme that, up to the end of July, just over 18,700 Pandemic Unemployment Payment over-payments were recorded to a value of…

Electricity supply companies may be charged more for their customers to use electricity between the hours of 5pm to 7pm. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has launched a two-week consultation asking industry and electricity providers how they intend to reduce energy usage. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, ESRI economist Dr Muireann Lynch said…

Euro zone inflation reached a new record high of 8.9% year-on-year in July, the EU’s statistics office has confirmed, with the core measure, excluding the most volatile components and key for monetary policy, also sharply up. The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said consumer prices in the 19 countries using the euro rose 0.1% month-on-month…

Toll income on the country’s busiest road, the M50, surged 13% to €140 million last year as traffic volumes recovered from the early phases of the pandemic. The 2021 annual report by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) shows however that the €140 million in toll income – which includes €7.5 million in penalty income – falls…

Electricity supply companies may be charged more for their customers to use electricity between the hours of 5pm to 7pm, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) has launched a two-week consultation asking industry and electricity providers how they intend to reduce energy usage. Speaking on RTÉ’s…

The euro zone inflation outlook has failed to improve since a July rate hike, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel said, suggesting she favours another large interest rate increase next month even as recession risks harden. The central bank for the 19-country bloc surprised investors with a 50-basis-point rate hike last month fearing that…

The value of personal loan drawdowns increased by 20.1% in the second quarter of this year to €414 million, compared to the second quarter of last year. The report on personal loans by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland shows continued strong growth in activity, the most since the data series began in 2020. On an…

The turnover of Irish-owned multinationals reached €238bn in 2020, down 7% when compared to the previous year. New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the US generated more than 39% of such turnover, while almost 17% was generated from the UK. Irish-owned foreign affiliates employed more than 1.2 million people in 2020, up…