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It’s that time of year again when Black Friday advertising is inescapable. Offers galore are touted on social media feeds, in broadcasting and newspapers in the run up to 24 November. Buy, buy, buy, is the message, and do it quick in case the bargains do not last. Since Black Friday and Cyber Monday became…

The Government has signed off on a plan to increase PRSI over five years to replenish the Social Insurance Fund. Under the plan there will be incremental increases in all classes of PRSI. This decision will see hikes in PRSI rates for employers, employees and the self-employed. These increases will support the retention of the…

New car sales in the European Union rose 14.6% in October, boosted in part by a big jump in sales of fully electric cars, while hybrid electric vehicles accounted for nearly three of every 10 vehicles sold in the economic bloc. Sales of fully electric cars rose 36.3% from a year earlier and full hybrid…

New rules to make it easier for consumers to request repairs for goods will be voted on by the European Parliament. The legislation seeks to introduce a “right to repair”, in order to reduce unnecessary waste. It will require producers and sellers of goods to prioritise the repair of an item, during its guarantee period,…

A quarter of businesses in the “experience economy” are less confident than they were six months ago, new research has found. A similar proportion of firms indicated they expect conditions to be poor over the next six months. The experience economy includes hospitality, retail, travel, food, drink, tourism, entertainment, the arts and events. The survey…

One week out, AIB is forecasting that online Black Friday spend in Ireland this year will surpass last year’s record-breaking total. In 2022, customers of the bank spent €66,000 every minute or €95m in total, the highest online spend ever recorded by the lender over a 24-hour period. A total of 900,000 card transactions by…

It’s the time of year when the purse strings are being loosened in the run into the festive season. Most of us are at the stage where we’re at least starting to plan for the months ahead and, more importantly, how we’re going to finance and manage the annual Christmas spend. Following at least two…

Planning to cut back on Christmas spending is now a seasonal norm, according to analysis of the Credit Union Consumer Sentiment survey for November. It contained a special question on consumers spending plans for Christmas, and compared it with spending intentions in the previous three years. Over half of consumers expect to have less to…

Oil prices were little changed today but on track for their fourth week of losses in a row after tumbling about 5% to a four month-low yesterday on worries over global demand. Brent futures edged up seven cents, or 0.1%, to $77.49 a barrel in early trade. US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was at…

More expensive services and food were the main drivers of consumer price growth in the euro zone in October, data showed today, as the EU’s statistics office confirmed year-on-year inflation slowed sharply. Eurostat said consumer inflation in the 20 countries using the euro decelerated to 2.9% year-on-year in October from 4.3% in September after prices…