Firms to increase wages by 4% this year, survey finds

Also found 38% of respondents, down from 43% previously, expect house prices to rise by more than 5%

The Central Bank last week sad it expects inflation, on a harmonised measure, to average 4.5% this year, as energy-driven price hikes start to fall back from early summer. 

Around half of firms plan to increase wages by an average 4% this year, a Bank of Ireland survey has found, in a year that inflation is running at its highest level for decades. 

The survey takes the economic pulse of a number of areas, including business and consumers, and is the latest to show that with the lifting of almost all restrictions for the Omicron variant that there has been a bounce in optimism for businesses and households.