IBEC sees scope for take home pay rise

IBEC believes Finance Minister Brian Cowan will have plenty of scope to increase workers take home pay in December’s budget by widening the income tax bands to take account of inflation.

IBEC, in their latest Quarterly Economic Review published yesterday are less bullish about the Irish economy than either IMF or the OECD believing GNP will grow by 4.8%, considerably stronger than the average 2.7% growth of the past three years.

"This, however, does not imply a return to the Celtic tiger growth rates of the previous decadethe Review expects GNP growth to moderate to 4.5% in 2005 on the back of a global slowdown," they said.