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The vast majority of company bosses are positive about the outlook – a three fold increase on 2013, according to PwC’s 2014 CEO Pulse Survey.

The study found that more chief executives are upbeat compared with 2007, but almost a quarter feel that their position has deteriorated.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said recent years have been painful for many workers but an improvement is starting to become evident.

“The survey is a very welcome addition to our understanding of what is happening in the economy, and is the latest in a growing number of signs that the jobs recovery which has started over the last two years is set to broaden and deepen,” Mr Bruton said.

Key findings of the survey include:

*A majority of Irish CEOs are positive about the outlook for the economy at 86pc.
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This is up from 31pc a year ago.

* More than three-quarters (77pc) are favourable about the future prospects for their own businesses, up from 44pc last year.

* Almost nine out of 10 CEOs of multi-nationals plan to increase or maintain their investment here. They claim access to highly-skilled employees is the most critical factor.

* More than half (58pc) plan to increase their workforce, up from 34pc last year and 36pc in 2008. But just over one in ten are still looking at cutbacks.

* About 58pc report their businesses to be in better financial health now compared to before the financial crisis. But almost a quarter say they are in a worse position.

* Two-thirds (66pc) expect their export volumes to grow in the next three to five years. However, this represents a drop from 73pc last year. Read more

The scale of the mortgage arrears crisis among the subprime market has been shown with figures emerging that suggest almost 60 per cent of that market is struggling.

The state of the subprime mortgage book has been described as “appalling” by Fianna Fáil spokesman on finance Michael McGrath, who highlighted the figures and called on the Government to set targets for the resolution of subprime arrears cases.
‘Staggering’ arrears

“The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, has confirmed that 57 per cent of the family home subprime mortgage book is in arrears of 90 days or more,” he said.

“Of a total subprime mortgage book of €3.316 billion, accounts amounting to a staggering €1.88 billion are in arrears of over 90 days. Despite this, the Minister has confirmed that the mortgage arrears targets programme has still not been extended to subprime mortgages.” Read more

They have criticised the system for dealing with problem tenants and the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), which regulates the sector.

A number of landlords, who inherited property or are renting out their home after moving back in with their parents, complained about delays in getting determinations from the PRTB, being left without rent but still having to pay mortgages, and tenants ignoring requests to pay arrears.

The PRTB was set up to replace the courts in disputes between landlords and tenants and operates on a quasi-judicial basis.

Margaret McCormick of the Irish Property Owners’ Association said there was a growing problem of tenants building up rent arrears, with others engaged in anti-social behaviour but refusing to move out. Read more

Saudi shares climbed the most in 10 months after the country’s market regulator said it would open the Arab world’s biggest bourse to international investors by the middle of 2015. The Tadawul All Share Index rose 2 per cent to 9,940.11 this morning in Riyadh, the biggest jump since September.

Saudi Basic Industries, the world’s biggest petrochemicals producer, led the gains with a 5.3 per cent advance. Etihad Etisalat added 6 per cent, while Al Rajhi Bank climbed 1.8 per cent.

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet authorised overseas financial institutions to trade equities in the Tadawul and gave the Capital Market Authority scope to determine the timing, according to state-run Saudi Press Agency. The CMA is preparing to publish rules for qualified foreign financial institutions, it said in a statement on its website.

“International investors have been eager to accumulate blue chip stocks in Saudi for the longest time,” Tariq Qaqish, head of asset management at Dubai-based Al Mal Capital PSC, said. Many have a solid track record and are “uncorrelated to a certain extent to the global financial crisis,” he said. Sabic gained the most since October to 121.75 riyals.

Etihad Etisalat advanced the most since March 2011 to 88 riyals, the highest level in six weeks, and Al Rajhi rose to 67.50 riyals. The CMA said it will seek feedback on the rules from investors and the public for 90 days and will review responses by the end of the year.

Saudi’s exchange is currently limited to investors from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

If Mr Putin doesn’t move to end the war in Ukraine in the wake of last week’s downing of a Malaysia Air jet in rebel-held territory, he risks becoming an international outcast like Belarus’ Aleksandr Lukashenko, whom the US famously labeled Europe’s last dictator, one Russian billionaire said on condition of anonymity.

“The economic and business elite is just in horror,” said Igor Bunin, who heads the Centre for Political Technology in Moscow. Nobody will speak out because of the implicit threat of retribution, Bunin added. “Any sign of rebellion and they’ll be brought to their knees.”

The downing of the Malaysian airliner, which killed 298 people, led to renewed threats of deeper penalties by the US and EU, who have already sanctioned Russian individuals and companies deemed complicit in fuelling the pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine.

US secretary of state John Kerry said the available evidence suggests Russia provided the missile used by the rebels to down the airliner. UK defence secretary Michael Fallon, meanwhile, was cited of accusing Mr Putin of “sponsored terrorism”.

While the EU has so far imposed less punitive measures against Russia than the US because of opposition from countries such as Italy and Austria, the UK and the Netherlands are leading the push for bolder action at a meeting of foreign ministers today. Of the victims onboard the plane, 193, were Dutch; 10 were British.

The US has already imposed penalties on state-run companies and members of Putin’s inner circle, including billionaire investor Gennady Timchenko and gas piplines supplier Arkady Rotenberg. Last week President Obama aimed a direct blow at Russia’s economic heart with sanctions on Rosneft, the flagship oil giant that generates more than 4pc of the world’s crude and over 8pc of the country’s GDP.

The measures were tailored to slowly starve the state-run energy firm of US dollar funding rather than bar it from doing business with oil buyers such as BP or stymie multibillion-dollar ventures with firms like ExxonMobil, experts said.

The result is likely to be an increase in the cost of financing for Rosneft, which has grown increasingly reliant on pre-financing oil supply deals with firms including Glencore and BP. It may need to seek out new banks for loans, and could eventually slow investment in new projects. Read more

The State is now paying an estimated 4.99pc interest on the €22.5bn loan from the Washington-based lender – more than twice the cost Ireland is currently being charged to raise 10-year money on the international markets.

At 4.99pc of €22.5bn, the interest bill is €1.12bn.

The yield on Ireland’s 10-year-bond yesterday afternoon was 2.25pc, another record low and below both the UK and US. The State can borrow seven-year debt for 1.2pc per year. The IMF loan has an average maturity of about seven years.

At 1.2pc, the interest bill on €22.5bn would be €270m.

While that full saving would likely never be achieved, it shows the scale of the potential savings. Read more

The prosecutions resulted in fines of €109,800 and 
pay awards of €41,226 to employees.

Seventy of the 84 cases were taken against firms operating in the catering industry.

The number of inspections carried out by NERA increased by 18pc going from 4,689 in 2012 to 5,546 last year.

NERA’s annual review for 2013 confirmed that the total amount of unpaid wages recovered from inspections totalled €824,052 compared to €855,935 in 2012.

NERA took prosecution cases against 1.5pc of the businesses inspected. A breakdown of the inspection figures show that the Food & Drink sector was the most non-compliant with unpaid wages recovered totalling €252,109.

Officials carried out 417 inspections in the retail and wholesale sector that recouped €133,962 in unpaid wages for workers.

In relation to the construction sector, officials recovered €103,579 in unpaid wages as a result of 138 inspections that showed a compliance rate of 51pc. Read more

His most high-profile gig until now was at Britain’s Co-operative Bank, where he took over as chairman in June 2013 in the wake of disgraced ex-chairman Paul Flowers. Flowers was the media doyen and ordained Methodist minister who fell spectacularly from grace after he was filmed buying cocaine and methamphetamines in his car in 2010. He was later accused of covering up child sex abuse scandals and hiring rent boys. Flowers resigned in 2013 after a £1.5bn (€1.9bn) black hole was discovered in the bank’s finances.

Pym is a veteran banker with plenty of experience turning around troubled institutions. Other previous roles include the chairmanship of UK Asset Resolution, the combined nasty parts of Northern Rock and bad bank Bradford & Bingley, as well as the chair of Swedish lender Nordax Finans AB and the chief executive spot at Alliance & Leicester, which is now owned by Santander.

Interestingly, he started his career in fashion retail, working with Sir Stuart Rose at Burton Group in the 1980s before switching to banks.

It’s hard to trump the troubles of the Co-op Bank, but AIB could be Pym’s biggest challenge yet. 99.9pc state owned, with a share price languishing at 9c, a huge book of impaired loans and European Central Bank stress tests looming before the end of the year, its management still have a sizeable mountain to climb.

Here’s the low-down on what Pym’s main priorities will be over the next two years as he helps to convert the country’s second biggest lender into something resembling a private bank. Read more

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has revealed that the value of the Central Bank’s gold deposits was €168m at the end of last year – a decrease of €75m on the €243m put on the value of gold at the end of 2012.

The reversal last year more than wiped out two years of gains by the Central Bank after its gold holding increased from €203.79m at the start of 2011 to €234.96m at the end of that year.

The holding further increased to €243.5m in 2012.

The fall in the Central Bank’s holding tracked the value of gold prices internationally which plunged by a quarter to about $1,200 per ounce between January and December of last year

In a written Dail reply to Fianna Fail’s Michael McGrath, Minister Noonan said: “Gold and gold receivables consist of coin stocks held in the Central Bank, together with gold bars held at the Bank of England”.

The Central Bank neither bought nor sold gold between 2010 and 2013. The value of the precious metal peaked in August 2011 and has fallen since. The reduction of value of gold has meant not only bad news for the Irish Central Bank, but central banks around the world where the value of combined central bank holdings slumped last year to $1.28 trillion compared with $1.7 trillion in 2013. Read more

The assurances come as an increasing number of developers in NAMA have moved to England and declared bankruptcy under that country’s relatively lax bankruptcy laws.

A total of 65 NAMA debtors have declared bankruptcy in the UK or US.

NAMA is worried that developers have little incentive to continue co-operating with the toxic loans agency if they know that they are likely to be forced into bankruptcy at the end of the process later this decade.

The agency has told Finance Minister Michael Noonan in its annual report that it wants to combat what it calls “debtor fatigue”. Read more