Goodbody is very optimistic about the current state of the Irish economy - its latest quarterly report says that business and consumer spending are driving a strong recovery. It expects GDP to grow by 4.3 percent in 2015 - and 4 percent in the following year.
The report says that tax receipts are due to overshoot the Government's targets by €2bn - the stockbrokers recommend that this surplus should be used to make "targeted giveaways" through capital investment programmes and tax cuts.
Investment spending is still the main driver of growth according to Goodbody - it rose by 11 percent last year, the strongest performance in a decade.
Core business investment – i.e., investment in plant, equipment and machinery (other than planes) surged by 36 percent in 2014.
New credit advanced to SMEs rose by 26 percent last year, while personal consumption is expected to rise by 2.6 percent in 2015 - the corresponding figure last year was just over 1 percent.
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Survey of more than 500 SMEs by IEDR, the body responsible for the management of Ireland’s official '.ie' internet domain found that 91 percent of SME websites can’t process sales online while more than 60 percent can’t even take sales orders online and just over half have no facility to interact directly with customers through social media or web chat.
According to the survey, the vast majority of SMEs acknowledge the importance of interactive online engagement and e-commerce enablement but haven’t acted to upgrade their own sites.
The IEDR is also launching its fifth annual OPTIMISE Fund, valued at €150,000, to support SMEs to enhance the functionality of their sites.
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Officials say that there has been progress but Greece is far from a deal as Friday's (April 24th) Eurogroup meeting of European finance ministers approaches.
Speaking to Handelsblatt, a leading German financial newspaper Poul Thomsen, the director of the IMF's European department says that, "There has been a little bit more impetus in the negotiations between the three institutions and the Greek government for several days."
He also warned that the talks are "far from the target" - Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has identified this week's meeting as a key date in the negotiating process. Greece is due to repay close to €1bn to the IMF during May.
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Construction work has begun on the DAA’s €14m extension of the Terminal 2 short-term car park at Dublin Airport, adding 1,400 additional spaces and four storeys in height to the existing facility.
The airport management company says the extra spaces are needed to cater for growing passenger volumes. The number of passengers rose by 8 percent to 21.7m last year and are targeted to increase to 25m by the end of 2017.
Work on the car park is expected to be complete by December when the DAA is also planning to complete a €12m investment on the nearby former Aer Lingus Head Office Building, which will offer more than 8,000 sq m in high grade office accommodation.
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The People’s Bank of China reduced the level of reserves commercial banks must retain with the Central Bank by 1 percent to 18.55 in an attempt to stimulate the country's economy.
Estimated the move will inject more than €190bn of commercial lending into the economy.
The move was the largest such stimulus since 2008 and follows first quarter economic growth of just 7 percent - the lowest in six years.
Analysts expect even more easing of monetary policy during the year, with another interest rate cut expected within the next two months and as well as accelerated spending on infrastructure and further relaxation of restrictions in relation to purchase of property.
