Bank of Ireland and AIB remain on track to achieve their €4bn SME loan approval targets for 2013, but of the amount sanctioned to date only 34% qualifies as new lending, the Credit Review Office has stated.

Employers are mostly satisfied with Irish graduates but more than a third are still recruiting overseas because of skills shortages.

The majority of small firms are unwilling to penalise people who are late paying them for fear of losing business in the current economic climate.

AIB sanctioned a further 3,000 or so loans to small businesses last month, pushing its approval rate for lending to the sector to more than 90%.

There was a broadly positive response to the Government’s credit guarantee scheme, which becomes operational from next Wednesday.

The Small Firms’ Association is to lobby Finance Minster Michael Noonan on the introduction of tax relief changes to prompt business owners into making further investments.

THE Small Firms Association has called for a new dynamic approach to creating jobs and on the Government to do more to improve consumer confidence.

The cost of living increased by half a per cent over the last year, official figures revealed today.

IRISH people retire later than others in the European Union, but end up with the smallest pensions, according to a new OECD report.

A total of 49,009 people have been made redundant so far this year, an increase of 142% on the same period in 2008, according to new figures released today by the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment.

THE Government should not grant the Small Firms’ Association request for taxpayers’ support.

IT is the height of hypocrisy for Fine Gael, the employers’ group IBEC, the Small Firms’ Association and other conservative elements to bemoan the decision of Aer Lingus to end its Shannon-Heathrow connection.

INFLATION could hit a seven-year high this year, as the latest figures reveal a hike in air fares, petrol prices and home-heating oil pushed it to 5% last month.

PETROL and diesel prices have edged closer to an average of €1.30 a litre, driven by supply uncertainty on world markets.

The cost of housing has reached crisis point and is now a significant barrier to job mobility and wage inflation according to the Small Firms’ Association.

THE number of people at work will surpass two million for the first time this year, according to a new report by the Small Firms’ Association (SFA).

THE outgoing chairman of the Small Firms’ Association, Kieran Crowley, called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday to halt the proposed benefit-in-kind tax on company vans.

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Dermot Ahern was under pressure last night to intervene in the escalating postal dispute following a warning that it will put many small firms out of business by Christmas.

A massive switch to new telephone numbers in 21 counties will cause mayhem, the Small Firms Association has claimed.