Author: admin@fmb

Small and medium sized businesses will need to adjust their profit expectations in order to ensure the viability and continued growth of the sector, a new analysis has suggested. Publishing its latest SME Monitor, the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) also said that more strategic Government supports for small and medium sized firms will […]

Read More… from BPFI says SMEs face adjusting profit expectations as costs rise

The level of job vacancies continued to fall in the first quarter of the year according to the latest ‘Jobs Index’ from hiring platform IrishJobs. Vacancies were down by 3% compared to the previous quarter and declined by 28% on a year-on-year basis. The quarterly drop was the lowest fall in six successive quarters which […]

Read More… from Job vacancies continuing to fall

Euro zone inflation slowed across the board last month, reinforcing expectations for a European Central Bank interest rate cut in June, even as rising energy costs and a weak euro cloud the outlook, final data from Eurostat showed today. Inflation in the 20 nations sharing the euro currency slowed to 2.4% last month from 2.6% […]

Read More… from Confirmed euro zone inflation fall bolsters ECB’s June rate cut plan

New car sales in the European Union fell by 5.2% year-on-year in March, marking the first decline this year and the biggest since July 2022, Europe’s auto industry body said today, citing the impact of early Easter holidays and a market downturn. Top European carmakers Volkswagen and Stellantis have said the market will be tough […]

Read More… from EU new car sales drop by 5.2% in March, says ACEA

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that residential property prices grew at the fastest annual pace in just over a year in February. Property prices increased by 6.1% in February compared to growth of 5.4% a month earlier, the CSO said. Year-on-year price growth had cooled from a recent peak of 15.1% in […]

Read More… from Property price growth speeds up to 6.1% in February – CSO

Ireland’s exports and imports fell in February, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. Goods exports in the month were worth €15.9 billion on an unadjusted basis, down more than €700m from the same time last year. Imports amounted to €10 billion, down more than €1.1 billion. Today’s CSO figures show that […]

Read More… from Both exports and imports fall in February – CSO

The Governor of the Central Bank has said he expects that “all things equal” the European Central Bank will cut interest rates in June. However, Gabriel Makhlouf said he remains open-minded about the path which interest rates might take after that. “I think we’re pretty close to it now,” the Governor told CNBC in an […]

Read More… from Makhlouf expects that ‘all things equal’ the ECB will cut interest rates in June

The Government has agreed to defer the date for the referendum on the EU’s Unified Patent Court, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has confirmed. It was expected that the referendum would take place on 7 June, the same date as the local and European elections. “While the Government continues to believe that joining the UPC […]

Read More… from Govt agrees to delay date of Patent referendum

Euro zone inflation is heading to the European Central Bank’s 2% target next year after a “bumpy” road that will see it hover near current levels for now, the ECB’s chief economist Philip Lane said today. “Even if the near-term inflation outlook is somewhat bumpy, the projected convergence of inflation to the target in 2025 […]

Read More… from Euro zone inflation heading to 2% after ‘bumpy’ road – ECB’s Lane

There was a “significant” drop in job openings in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest Quarterly Employment Monitor from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley. The research showed a 13.8% decrease in job openings compared with the previous quarter and a year-on-year decline of 29.6%. The first quarter of the year saw a […]

Read More… from ‘Significant’ drop in job openings in first quarter