A quick look at a few recent key economic indicators show that the Irish economy is still a mix of good, bad and ugly news stories! The GOOD, well, the austerity measures brought in by the government seem to have convinced investors abroad that Ireland is heading down the right track. Yields on 10-year bonds have begun to move downwards in recent weeks to 7.79 per cent which is all good news for reducing the overall country’s debt burden. However although unemployment increased by 2 per cent in the second quarter it was the smallest drop in employment since 2008 which may indicate some stability at last in this area. The total amount of residential housing stock as shown on daft.ie has fallen by 1.3 per cent which again is good news since it is a major reduction in the number of properties on the market.
Now contrast this with overall retail sales values for August which was down 0.5 per cent and the BAD news is still out there. In particular pubs and bars really took a hammering, down 5 per cent.
The pain is certainly nowhere near the end for Ireland PLC.
*Link to main page section Business & Finance – edit option Economy
