Practicenet News

THE state’s budgetary watchdog has hit out at the Government over Budget 2015, saying it was a missed opportunity to further fix the public finances. The Fiscal Advisory Council said the State’s debt level will now be €10bn higher in 2018 because the Government “backtracked” on plans to impose a further €2bn in austerity in

THIS year’s growth forecast is being boosted by accounting anomalies from certain companies, the state’s budgetary watchdog has said. The Department of Finance has projected growth this year of 4.7pc, but the Fiscal Advisory Council has said gross domestic product in the first half of the year was inflated by so-called contract manufacturing involving possibly

The yield on Irish government bonds fell to a record low of 1.477 per cent this morning, the lowest level since Bloomberg started collecting the data in 1991. Meanwhile, gains in Spanish government bonds pushed the yield below 2 per cent for the first time, amid speculation the European Central Bank will buy sovereign debt

Ireland’s business tax system is the “most effective” in Europe, with a real corporation tax almost identical to the official 12.5pc rate. SHARE A report from accountants PwC and the World Bank found that the real corporation tax rate in Ireland stands at 12.4pc, while the red tape associated with paying tax in Ireland compares

The European Commission has cleared the final transfers of €47bn of loans to Nama from the main banks. Nama paid the banks €18.995bn for the loans – a discount of around 60pc compared to the face value. However, the Commission’s report said the market value of the loans was €15.681bn. The Commission calculated that the

The European Central Bank is ready to act in a timely manner if low inflation persists, ECB President Mario Draghi said today. “We will continue to meet our responsibility – we will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible, as our price stability mandate requires of us,” Draghi

Missed budget target would plunge the country back into cuts and tax hikes. The Government’s new water charges plan puts the country at risk of missing the Troika’s budget target next year and plunging the country into another round of cuts and tax hikes, EU officials warn. The Troika has also been surprised at the

The Swedish parliament yesterday said Ireland may pay back part of its bailout loans early to the International Monetary Fund. This was the final EU approval needed for the Government to begin repayment of the IMF loans. Ireland secured agreement from Europe to pay the IMF before it repays aid from the European bailout funds

The bulk of Germans feel Irish people should have protested more when the Eurozone crisis unfolded, a survey suggests. SHARE The study by Red C – commissioned by a Galway businessman – concluded that about 60pc of Germans surveyed agreed that we weren’t vocal enough in 2008, the year the crash came and the Government

More than €300 million was raised by Irish SMEs during the first nine months of 2014, but funding for start-ups fell dramatically over the period, according to a new survey from the Irish Venture Capital Association (IVCA). The study reveals just 5 per cent of funds raised this year have gone to start-ups compared to