EU leaders have set a target of two weeks to reach agreement on a trillion euro plus recovery plan for countries stricken by the coronavirus pandemic. This follows a four hour video conference today. The plan will involve leveraging the EU’s one trillion euro seven year budget in order to provide loans and grants to the…
Tag Archives: Economic welfare
The European Commission has said it is to implement a series of measures to assist the agri-food sector as a result of the impact of Covid-19. In a statement issued from Brussels, the Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski sad that he had decided to take what he called “swift action” because of the impact of the virus…
Oil prices extended their gains today amid signs that producers are cutting production to cope with a collapse in demand for fuel as the coronavirus outbreak ravages the world’s economies. Brent crude was up 33 cents, or 1.6%, at $20.70 a barrel in early trade after rising more than 5% yesterday. US West Texas Intermediate…
Europe’s banks are expected to have to set aside billions for potential loan losses as well as take profit hits because of the coronavirus crisis when they start reporting results over the next two weeks. The region’s banks were already under pressure before the crisis with high costs, low returns, and demands to fix outdated…
Construction is resuming on 35 social housing projects to ensure local authorities can deliver accommodation for people currently in emergency accommodation or at risk of homelessness during the current pandemic, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government confirmed. However, the Construction Industry Federation has warned members that if they do not comply rigorously with…
Over one million people are now either fully or partially dependent on the State for income support, according to the latest figures from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. 584,000 people are now receiving the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment introduced just over a month ago. The latest figures indicate that 50,000 of those…
There are over 45,100 employers registered with Revenue for the Covid-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, according to the latest figures from Revenue. Over 30,800 employers have already received subsidy payments under the scheme, and over 281,200 employees have already received at least one payment. Today, Revenue has generated further subsidy payments under the scheme worth…
A new report from stockbrokers Davy said that while the outbreak of Covid-19 presents significant challenges, Ireland’s economy should prove to be far more resilient relative to the rest of Europe than it did in the last downturn. The stockbrokers noted that recent years have been characterised by a lack of credit demand, mainly due to…
The National Treasury Management Agency today completed an auction of Irish Treasury Bills, selling the target amount of €750m. The NTMA said that total bids received for the Treasury Bills amounted to €2.305 billion which was over three times the amount on offer. The Treasury Bills, which have a maturity of six months, were sold…
The country’s five retail banks may extend loan repayment breaks to help homeowners cope with the impact of the coronavirus to six months from the three months currently in place, the head of their representative body has said. The banks agreed the measure in the middle of last month and had granted or were close…