Tag Archives: Ireland Economy

76% of businesses still trading despite Covid-19 – CSO

The Central Statistics Office has found that a majority of companies have continued to trade through the Covid-19 pandemic. In the second of the CSO’s new Covid-19 business surveys, conducted in the week beginning May 3, 76% of companies which responded said they were continuing to trade. But 23.9% indicated they had ceased trading either…

Euro zone economy won’t hit pre-crisis level until 2021 at earliest – Lane

The coronavirus-hit euro zone economy probably will not return to its pre-pandemic levels until next year at the earliest, the European Central Bank’s chief economist said today. But Philip Lane said that the ECB was prepared to tweak its tools if needed. “From today’s perspective, it looks in any case unlikely that economic activity will…

European new car sales down 78.3% in April

European passenger car sales slumped in April as the first full month with restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic across the continent dragged sales to a record drop, data showed today. In April, new car registrations dropped by 78.3% to 292,182 vehicles in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association countries. This…

Call for increased retail supports ahead of reopening

The Chief Executive of Retail Excellence Ireland has called for increased government support for the sector, as up to 1,800 shops look to reopen next Monday. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, David Fitzsimons said that only 70% of staff are expected to return to work in the coming months, with his organisation predicting job losses…

Demand for bank loans falls sharply amid virus crisis – Central Bank

New research from the Central Bank shows that demand for bank loans has fallen sharply. The study, published on the Central Bank’s website, shows that from the middle of March enquiries about loans from both personal customers and businesses fell as containment measures to tackle Covid-19 were introduced. Mortgage enquiries fell by almost 20% from…

Enterprise Ireland announces ‘repayable’ fund for SMEs

Enterprise Ireland has a Business Response Unit, and in these times, it has been busy. Over 1,000 businesses have engaged with the unit since March, with 60% of those companies saying Covid-19 has had a very negative or critical impact on their business. Financial planning was listed as one of the key priorities identified by…