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Euro zone retail sales rose in July, but by less than expected because of a continued slump in demand for non-food products, data form the EU’s statistics office Eurostat showed today. Eurostat said retail sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro, a proxy for consumer demand, increased 0.3% month-on-month in July for a 0.9%…

Oil prices edged lower today, paring gains from the previous session, as an OPEC+ deal to cut output by 100,000 barrels per day in October was seen as a largely symbolic move to bolster prices after the market’s recent slide. Brent crude futures had fallen 49 cents, or 0.5%, to $95.25 a barrel in early…

Oil prices jumped over $1 a barrel today, extending gains as investors eyed possible moves by OPEC+ producers to cut output and support prices at a meeting later today. Brent crude futures rose $1.88, or 2%, to $94.90 a barrel in early trade after gaining 0.7% on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at…

The euro sunk below $0.99 this morningy, a 20-year-low, following the announcement last week that Russia would cut off gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline. The euro fell 0.7% to 0.9884 in early trade – its lowest since December 2002. The European currency has continued to weaken against the dollar since the…

The Richter Scale measures the intensity of earthquakes. It ranges from the unnoticeable to the highly destructive. So, when Taoiseach Micheál Martin said energy prices are “off the Richter scale”, the chosen figure of speech was more than apt. In the year to July, electricity was up 40%, gas up 56%, and home heating oil…

A worker forced to work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic has failed in his bid to have part of his accommodation rental bill recognised as an expense. In January of last year, the worker filed an Income Tax return and sought to have €587 of the rental cost of his accommodation treated as an…

Electric Ireland has announced further increases to its residential electricity and gas bills from 1 October after increasing them in August. The company said its electricity bills will increase by 26.7% and residential gas bills by 37.5% from next month. Electric Ireland said the price hikes were due to the unprecedented increases in international energy…

Online and mobile banking hit record highs in the second quarter of the year growing to 36 million payments, the highest level since the current data series began in 2016. The figures are contained in the latest Payments Monitor from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI). It is the first time that digital banking payments…

Energy provider PrepayPower has said that it will increase it gas and electricity prices from 1 October. Electricity prices are to rise by 19%, while gas prices will increase by 29%. The increases will add an additional €339 to the average electricity bill and €428 to the average gas bill. The company, which has 170,000…

The European Commission has approved Ireland’s plan for the implementation of the new Common Agriculture Policy that comes into affect in 2023. The plan had to be resubmitted to the Commission earlier this month after thef irst version was rejected last March. Among the reasons cited by the Commission at the time was the need…