Central Bank report: Unemployment to persist through 2023

The Central Bank predictts the budget deficit will swell to over €23bn this year before additional costs under a stimulus measures planned by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe this summer are taken into account. Picture:Gareth Chaney

Unemployment will return to its pre-Covid-19 levels in late 2023 and only then if there is no new outbreak of the disease, while house building will be severely disrupted for a number of years, the Central Bank has predicted.