Business News

Construction activity plunged again last month following an earlier post-lockdown increase, as the economic impact of the pandemic weighs on the sector. The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) published this morning notched up a reading of 44 in August, compared to 53.2 in July. Any figure below 50 signals contraction. And worryingly for […]

Proposals to tax the digital economy being brought to the G20 next month are more likely to favour large economies over small, open economies like Ireland, according to the OECD’s director of tax policy. In a webinar for the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) yesterday, Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD’s Centre for […]

The Living Wage rate is to remain unchanged at €12.30 per hour for the coming year, following fresh calculations. The change to the rate is determined by the fluctuation of living costs and taxation. It is calculated by the Living Wage Technical Group (LWTG), which is made up of researchers and academics from St Vincent […]

Deutsche Bank plans to close one in five branches in its home market in Germany as it seeks to save costs and capitalise on the changing habits of customers during the coronavirus pandemic, an executive said.  Philipp Gossow, who oversees the retail banking business in Germany, told Reuters that the reduction to some 400 branches […]

Europe’s economic rebound is uncertain and uneven, requiring “very careful” assessment of incoming data, including the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said today.  “The uncertainty of the current environment requires a very careful assessment of the incoming information, including developments in the exchange rate,” Lagarde said in a speech […]

The number of people claiming the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) has fallen by just 3,600 in the last week. In total, 206,341 people received the PUP today, with €61.3m due to be paid to them tomorrow. However, today’s numbers do not take account of the decision to impose more severe restrictions on Dublin last Friday. […]

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has undercut the main justification for US President Donald Trump’s trade war against China, saying that American tariffs on Chinese goods violate international rules. A panel of three WTO trade experts yesterday said the US broke global regulations when it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018. Washington has imposed levies […]

Sterling got support today from data showing British shoppers kept increasing spending last month, taking sales further above their pre-Covid-19 levels, although the outlook for the pound remains bleak.  The currency was up against the euro at 0.916 today but down 0.2% against the dollar at $1.295. It fell to $1.2866 yesterday when the Bank of England said […]

There’s less than a month to go until Budget 2021, but already it’s shaping up to be unlike any other we’ve known in recent memory. Coming against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and what’s looking increasingly like no trade deal between the UK and the EU by year end, the government has two broad […]

So is this the big one? After years of courts cases and appeals and treaties and Austrian campaigners, are we finally on the brink of digital war between the EU and the US? Everyone agrees that the Irish data protection commissioner’s preliminary order to Facebook to stop transferring EU citizen data to the US brings […]