Archive for December 2019

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…

Consumers made almost 1.5 million contactless payments a day between July and end-September, according to figures from the Banking & Payments Federation. Contactless payments are those where consumers ‘tap’ their cards or devices and make payment without inputting a code on the payment device. The number of such payments grew by 44% year on year…

The employers’ group Ibec has warned that bottlenecks in transport, housing and childcare are making it more difficult for companies to hire and retain workers. In its latest Quarterly Economic Outlook, Ibec says it expects the economy to grow at a more moderate pace in the coming years. The employers’ group expects the economy to…