Business and Finance News
German population in 2014 in biggest rise since 1992
Destatis, the German federal statistics office, on Thursday reported that the population of Germany rose by 430,000 people in 2014 on a year earlier (+0.5%) to stand at 81.2m inhabitants — the highest population increase since 1992, when the rise had been markedly higher in absolute terms (700,000 people). In 2013 there had been an increase of 244,000 people (+0.3%). The population in 1992 was at 80.3m.
Annual shadow economy tax losses in Europe at €454bn
It has been estimated that annual shadow economy tax losses in Europe amount to €454bn or 8.6% of tax revenues — ranging from 31% in Bulgaria to 4.4% in Austria. Earlier this month Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, urged EU member states to tighten up VAT collection after new figures in a study showed €168bn was lost in 2013.
Dublin central short of office space for FDI projects
The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in a research note published today says Dublin is short of office in particular for FDI (foreign direct investment) projects such as Google in the past.
Web Summit reality check on Dublin as Digital Capital of World
In 2013 Enda Kenny, taoiseach/ prime minister, boasted that Ireland had become the new “Digital Capital of the World” and if that had to have any substance it had to relate to Dublin, Ireland’s capital city, as a significant global tech hub or cluster. A shock announcement on Wednesday should induce a reality check as Finfacts has been arguing for years — giving hype and delusion primacy over substance inevitably ends in disappointment.
London top global financial centre; Dublin moves up to 46 rank
London has moved ahead of New York to reclaim the number one position in a ranking of financial centres in 84 cities across the world. London climbed 12 points in the ratings to lead New York by eight points according to the latest survey which was lau…
Euro Area economy has best third quarter in four years
Flash PMI survey data pointed to steady growth of the Euro Area economy at the end of the third quarter. Moreover, faster growth of new work and backlogs of orders point to continued expansion in coming months. Selling prices were meanwhile stable desp…
17% of Irish-born live overseas; 20% of Irish population foreign-born
Migration: Ireland has the highest share of nationals living abroad of the 34 mainly developed member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): more than 17% of Irish-born persons aged 15 and over, lives overseas. T…
China manufacturing shrinks at fastest rate in more than 6 years
China’s manufacturing sector shrunk in September at the fastest rate in more than six years when the global financial crisis was at its peak in early 2009, according to a preliminary factory survey.
EU ministers force quota decision on refugee crisis ahead of summit
EU interior ministers on Tuesday imposed a quota plan to relocate 120,000 refugees across the Union, in a rare imposition of majority voting to force a decision that is opposed by four eastern European countries. Also on Tuesday the Organisation for Ec…
Startup Ireland: Evidence-based revolution to make a difference
Startup Ireland: In coming weeks there will be a lot of focus on startups with events scheduled across the country on 5-10 Oct as the inaugural of what is called the Startup Gathering 2015 — is “set to be one of the biggest startup events in the world” according to the organisers — while on 3-5 Nov, the Web Summit, which has already earned its superlatives, will bring Silicon Valley to Dublin for almost a week, when cloning the real thing for 52 weeks of the year remains an elusive dream.