Author: splash

ctivity in the services sector grew for the second month in a row in August, and at a slightly faster pace despite repeatedly stalled moves to fully reopen the economy.  Ireland has opted for a more cautious exit from its coronovirus lockdown and has paused the fourth and final stage of its plan since July, […]

Eurozone inflation turned negative last month for the first time since May 2016, raising chances that the European Central Bank will have to inject yet more stimulus to generate price growth which has undershot its target for over seven years. Annual inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell to minus 0.2pc in August […]

The pace of the recovery of the Irish economy from Covid-19 restrictions slowed substantially in August. That’s according to stockbroker Davy which said the situation is indicted by real-time data for the month. In a note to investors, chief economist Conall MacCoille said the Government’s decision to delay the phase four re-opening of the economy […]

As the new Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme goes live today, the Revenue Commissioners has confirmed that more than 22,100 employers have registered for the scheme.  To qualify for the scheme, employers must have tax clearance showing their taxes are in order. The Revenue Commissioners says there have been more than 16,800 applications for tax clearance since 17 […]

Directors that control more than 15pc of a business can now claim the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). This follows an update from the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe. From tomorrow EWSS will replace the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. The subsidy, which is based on an employees gross weekly wage, can be claimed by directors […]

Manufacturing activity kept growing last month but at a slower pace than in July amid weakening demand and resumed job cuts. The monthly purchasing managers’ index (PMI) produced by IHS Markit for AIB found that business conditions for manufacturers “continued to improve in August but the recovery lost momentum”. The headline PMI score declined from […]

The Government’s new Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme came into effect at midnight, and will continue to provide payroll support until the end of March 2021. It will replace the current Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, which is underpinning the wages of almost 370,000 employees. The TWSS, which was launched last March, assisted many businesses to survive […]

Economic sentiment fell backwards in August for the first time since the country began to emerge from lockdown and despite the Government’s Stimulus Package announced on July 23. Ireland is an outlier with European Commission data on Friday suggesting economic confidence in the euro area as a whole had continued to improve in August. Here […]

Irish pension schemes have reduced their equity allocations by almost a third in the past three years as they diversify into fixed income and real assets – property and infrastructure – as new sources of returns. Mercer’s 2020 European Asset allocation insights shows average equity allocations for Irish defined benefit schemes fell to 27% this […]

State-backed fund Microfinance Ireland has opened its new €15m Covid-19 fund to support small businesses through the current period of uncertainty and to protect jobs that have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic here.  Small businesses can apply for loans up to €25,000 for a three-year term with no repayments and no interest due for […]