Economist believes rise in euro could be the catalyst for further jobs losses

IRELAND is losing its competitive edge over our main trading partners in the US and Britain with the strong euro accounting for a 10% cut in our competitiveness in the last year.

To date this lack of competitiveness has not had a major impact on employment but IIB Bank chief economist Austin Hughes fears the rise in the value of the euro could be the catalyst for significant jobs losses.

Mr Hughes believes that on Central Bank measures, the average loss in the Irish economy’s competitiveness against our trading partners due to currency movements has been 10% in the past twelve months. He estimates that half of this loss of competitiveness has occurred since the beginning of the year.