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New car sales in the European Union fell by 5.2% year-on-year in March, marking the first decline this year and the biggest since July 2022, Europe’s auto industry body said today, citing the impact of early Easter holidays and a market downturn. Top European carmakers Volkswagen and Stellantis have said the market will be tough…

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that residential property prices grew at the fastest annual pace in just over a year in February. Property prices increased by 6.1% in February compared to growth of 5.4% a month earlier, the CSO said. Year-on-year price growth had cooled from a recent peak of 15.1% in…

Euro zone inflation slowed across the board last month, reinforcing expectations for a European Central Bank interest rate cut in June, even as rising energy costs and a weak euro cloud the outlook, final data from Eurostat showed today. Inflation in the 20 nations sharing the euro currency slowed to 2.4% last month from 2.6%…

The Government has agreed to defer the date for the referendum on the EU’s Unified Patent Court, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke has confirmed. It was expected that the referendum would take place on 7 June, the same date as the local and European elections. “While the Government continues to believe that joining the UPC…

Ireland’s exports and imports fell in February, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. Goods exports in the month were worth €15.9 billion on an unadjusted basis, down more than €700m from the same time last year. Imports amounted to €10 billion, down more than €1.1 billion. Today’s CSO figures show that…

The Governor of the Central Bank has said he expects that “all things equal” the European Central Bank will cut interest rates in June. However, Gabriel Makhlouf said he remains open-minded about the path which interest rates might take after that. “I think we’re pretty close to it now,” the Governor told CNBC in an…

The Governor of the Central Bank has called for continued global coordination that will lead to progress in dealing with systemic risks arising from the non-bank sector. Gabriel Makhlouf said the existing regulatory framework provides a good starting point to deal with the issues, but has not been designed for this purpose. Speaking in Washington…

Euro zone inflation is heading to the European Central Bank’s 2% target next year after a “bumpy” road that will see it hover near current levels for now, the ECB’s chief economist Philip Lane said today. “Even if the near-term inflation outlook is somewhat bumpy, the projected convergence of inflation to the target in 2025…

There was a “significant” drop in job openings in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest Quarterly Employment Monitor from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley. The research showed a 13.8% decrease in job openings compared with the previous quarter and a year-on-year decline of 29.6%. The first quarter of the year saw a…

Business group Ibec has said the Irish economy is still performing robustly, despite rising inflation and higher interest rates. In its first Quarterly Economic Outlook for the year, Ibec is forecasting growth in GDP of 2% this year and 3.4% in 2025. The report forecasts higher growth in exports, investment and it said the overall…