The Irish government is to take a controlling 75% stake in Anglo Irish Bank and it will provide a total of €5.5bn in new capital to the three main banks.
The Irish government is to take a controlling 75% stake in Anglo Irish Bank and it will provide a total of €5.5bn in new capital to the three main banks.
Irish Economy 2009: In this year of turmoil, much attention has been given to toxic assets with their alphabet soup acronyms, held by banks. In Ireland, the toxic assets have been of the human variety and while bringing order to the banking sector is crucial, politics and political leadership remain the key issues. With the death of the Celtic Tiger and a grim outlook for the year ahead and beyond, the country is in dire need of an effort that could be termed the moral equivalent of war. However, the current blundering government supported by the one-issue Green Party, has no credibility and a general election is needed that would focus on the stark choices to stabilise the economy and prepare for recovery.
President Bush today announced a $17.4 billion rescue package for the US auto makers to avoid bankruptcy, while leaving many big decisions for the incoming Obama administration.
The chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank David Drumm has resigned following the resignation of chairman Sean FitzPatrick on Thursday night.
Average Irish national house prices fell by 0.5% in November according to the latest edition of the permanent tsb / ESRI House Price Index. This follows reductions of 0.8% in October and 1.1% in September. So far in 2008 [January to November incl] average national prices fell by 8.3%, compared with a drop of 7.8% in the year up to October. Measuring the rate of growth in the 12 months (year on year) to November, average national prices were down by 9.6%. This compares to a decline of 5.9% recorded in the 12 months to November 2007.
Markets news on stocks, currencies and commodities.
Principal news stories from the Irish Independent, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Financial Times and New York Times.
The total pension accounting deficit for Irish based ISEQ quoted companies has been estimated at 12-14% of their market capitalisation, according to a study conducted by Attain Consulting. This amounts to €3.5 billion which would have been greater but for a widening of the credit risk in corporate bonds. The report warns that if credit spreads revert to their norm then the impact on pension accounting deficits will be dramatic.
Irish Economy: The ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) in a grim assessment of the Irish economy, forecasts up to 117,000 job losses in 2009. In the 1980’s, 1985 was the worst year for job losses, at 24,000.