SHOPPERS have been buying fewer furniture and electrical goods over the last year as the volume of retail sales continues to slide.

NEWS that the economy expanded 0.5% on a GDP basis and 1.1% on a GNP basis in the third quarter of the year compared to the second quarter is the latest piece of encouraging data published recently on our economy.

IRELAND is once again in the international media spotlight as concerns resurface about the scale of the banking, fiscal and economic problems facing the country. This has resulted in a rise in the spread between the rates for Irish debt over benchmark issuers such as Germany.

THE European Central Bank again left its official refinancing rate unchanged at 1% when the Governing Council met last week. This decision was totally as expected.

The cost of borrowing here could surge if the bailout fails, writes Brian O’Mahony.

THE latest Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) report, which is for Q3 2008, shows the first fall in employment since 1991, with unemployment moving sharply higher.

THE European Central Bank cut official interest rates by 0.5% last Thursday, bringing the total reduction in rates in the eurozone to 1% in the past month.

TWO leading central banks, the ECB and the Bank of England, meet this week to discuss monetary policy.

OIL prices continue to make new highs. Having been propelled through the $100/barrel barrier in February, US light crude is trading above $115/barrel.

THE annual headline rate of inflation, as measured by the CPI, has averaged close to 5% year to date.

AIB Group has announced that Nick Treble, managing director, AIB Global Treasury, has been appointed AIB Group chief risk officer (CRO) and a member of the AIB group executive committee (GEC).

Economists at AIB have reportedly cut their estimates for the number of houses they expect to be built in Ireland next year.

THE European Central Bank is expected to leave official interest rates unchanged at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday, but signal that the next increase will be in March.

FINANCIAL markets got two surprises last Thursday, one bigger than the other. The bigger surprise was the decision by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise official British interest rates by 0.25% to 5.25%.

BASED on the data published in last Saturday’s government White Paper on Receipts and Expenditure, the scene is set for a very generous Budget tomorrow.

ONE of the main uncertainties that have unsettled financial markets recently has been the extent of inflationary pressures in the major economies and the likely response of central bankers to these pressures.

THE eurozone's Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) may have risen above 2% again in February, but in reality the figures should be of great comfort to the ECB.

IRISH inflation is expected to tick higher in September and continue to rise in coming months given impending price rises in sectors such as electricity and gas, a Reuters survey of economists showed yesterday.

The Irish economy is poised for much stronger growth in 2004 and beyond, according to AIB Global Treasury's assessment published today.

IT had been expected that the ending of the war in Iraq would bring some relief to the dollar.

THE Government should cut the 25% Special Savings Incentive Account bonus to 12.5% or 10%, the Dublin Economic Workshop Conference was told.