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Europe’s banks have called on European Union authorities to ease capital rules and other regulatory barriers to helping businesses struggling because of the coronavirus epidemic.  The European Banking Federation (EBF) comprises national banking industry bodies from across Europe. It has set out a three-stage plan in a letter to the European Union, European Central Bank and…

The Irish Tourism Industry Confederation (ITIC) has said a VAT deferral scheme is vital to alleviate serious cashflow pressures in the tourism and hospitality sectors. The representative body said immediate action is critical because thousands of jobs are at stake due to the volume of cancellations and lack of future bookings. “Coronavirus is first and foremost…

Europe’s main stocks indices opened higher this morning, a day after markets suffered their biggest losses in more than a decade on crashing oil prices and coronavirus fears. Shares in London and Paris had gained 1.5% in early trade, while the Frankfurt market was up 0.8%. Shares in Dublin also rallied with the ISEQ index…

European shares slumped across the board this morning as a lockdown in northern Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak and a 30% plunge in oil prices amplified fears of a global recession.  London’s commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was down 8.6%,with shares of oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell down more than 20%.  The top decliner…

The European Union is hopeful of reaching a “mini” trade accord with the US in the coming weeks. But there are still difficult issues to overcome including barriers for farm products, EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said today. Mr Hogan made his comments at a European Parliament Ireland event in Dublin about EU trade amid…

The country’s gross domestic product grew by 5.5% in 2019, likely making it the European Union’s fastest-growing economy again, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show today.  The pace of growth was lower that the 6.3% predicted by the Finance Department as the country braces for the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.  GDP, which…

The International Monetary Fund has announced that it’s to make $50bn in emergency financing available for low income and emerging market countries to counter the impact of the corona virus outbreak. Its Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the outbreak is a ‘global problem calling for a global response.’ The IMF expects the global supply of…

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has called on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to ensure that workers affected by Covid-19 do not suffer any loss of income that might deter them from self-isolating to contain the spread of coronavirus. It comes as employers body Ibec refused to give an assurance that employers would provide sick pay to…

A cross bank co-ordination group is working on an industry wide plan to best manage the continued provision of banking services in the event of an escalation of the coronavirus nationally or an outbreak of the virus in a particular area of the country. The group, which is chaired by Banking & Payments Federation Ireland,…

Factory activity grew for a second month in a row in February on strong output and orders, a survey showed today. But concerns about coronavirus and a domestic political stalemate tempered expectations for future growth.  A six-year expansion in manufacturing came to an end in June as a slowdown in global trade and uncertainty over…