Pressure was coming to bear on the banks this time last year to offer better returns to depositors against the backdrop of rising interest rates. They did respond with better offerings but consumers have to be willing to set their money aside for a few years in order to avail of the better rates. Most…

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that non-household entities bought a total of 12,201 homes at market prices last year, a decrease of 9.8% on the 13,522 purchases made by this group in 2022. Non-household entities are private companies, charitable organisations and state institutions. The CSO said the total value of the purchases…

The Department of Finance believes reinstating the 9% VAT rate for tourism and hospitality businesses remains “unjustified”. In a report on VAT, the department’s Tax Strategy Group said the opposition to the measure is based on the cost being very significant. “For instance the cost of a further temporary VAT reduction to 9% for a…

Indexing the entire personal tax system to ensure workers’ rising wages are not eroded by an additional tax burden could cost the exchequer over €1 billion a year. That is according to a paper from the Department of Finance’s Tax Strategy Group (TSG), which outlines the possible cost of potential income tax changes ahead of…

Growth in euro zone business activity stalled this month as a tepid expansion in the bloc’s dominant services industry failed to offset a deeper downturn among manufacturers, a survey showed today. HCOB’s preliminary composite Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by S&P Global, dropped to 50.1 this month from June’s 50.9. This was barely above the 50…

Revenue has told accountants and self-assessed taxpayers that it has fixed problems with its online tax return form that were creating difficulties for those filing, but that it will be another week before others are resolved. Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) has told members that Revenue has notified it that an issue regarding the 3% USC…

Grocery inflation in the 12 weeks to July 7 saw a marginal gain after falling for 15 months in a row, new figures from Kantar show today. Grocery inflation now stands at 2.6%, a small increase of 0.14 points over the last month but down 11.8 points compared to the same time last year. Kantar…

European Central Bank vice-president Luis de Guindos hinted at a possible interest rate cut in September, singling out the ECB’s new projections as the “most important” factor in determining whether inflation is falling back to target. The ECB left rates on hold last week but President Christine Lagarde said its next meeting in September was…

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), part of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has announced the completion of four investment commitments totalling €229m aimed at accelerating the delivery of new homes in Ireland. The new homes will be delivered for a mix of owner-occupiers, renters, students and people who need social housing. The four…

Market expectations for the path of future interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank are “rather reasonable,” ECB policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said in an interview on French radio BFM Business today. The ECB kept interest rates unchanged yesterday, as expected, but said September’s meeting was “wide open”. “Market expectations for the path…