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The Washington-based lender said the Government should stick with the planned adjustment to protect “hard won gains” rather than simply aim to meet next year’s crucial EU deficit target

The call for another austerity budget was also made by the Fiscal Advisory Council earlier this week, while the European Commission said last week that it wants more than the €2bn in cuts and tax hikes.
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In its first post-bailout review, the IMF said the Irish economy is beginning its recovery from crisis but stressed determined efforts were “vital to sustain growth”. Read more

Mr Frisell left the Central Bank in March to take up a job with the International Monetary Fund’s Africa training institute in Mauritius.

His post was advertised globally after his resignation was announced in November, with the closing date for applications in early December.
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A spokeswoman for the Central Bank confirmed that the top job has still not been filled. The process remains open and deputy governor Stefan Gerlach has assumed Mr Frisell’s responsibilities while the process continues, she said. However, it is understood an appointment is not imminent.

Mr Frisell’s resignation was the latest in a series of high-profile departures after former financial regulator Matthew Elderfield left early last year to take up a post with Lloyds Bank in London. Fiona Muldoon, who was the bank’s No 3 and director of credit institutions and insurance, also announced in November that she was leaving. Read more

The cash can be repaid, he said, with significant amounts potentially coming back to taxpayers in the next few years,

“(It is) definitely a realist prospect, I think we can make substantial re payments in the years to come,” David Hodgkinson said.
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It’s the most optimistic any senior official has been about the prospects for making a recovery on the €20.8bn rescue of the bank.

The State is already in profit on the rescue of Bank of Ireland. Read more

The annual GEM report also showed that 85pc of businesses surveyed expected to create jobs.

In addition, those who indicated that they are planning to start a small business in the next three years also increased significantly in 2013.
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The report, which measures entrepreneurial activity, and is backed by Enterprise Ireland, Forfas the Department of Enterprise, also showed a narrowing of the gender gap.

There are now 1.4 times as many man as women who are business owners.

The report also showed that one in 10 are still having problems finding finance to keep their businesses going while informal investors continue to be a viital source of funding for small businesses. Read more

It comes as a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council claimed the tests may be too tough.

The ECB will probe the financial health of 128 banks across Europe – including five in Ireland – in the autumn.
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Professor John McHale, chair of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC), insisted it was hard to call as he didn’t have any “insider” knowledge.

But he said: “At this point, given the balance sheet assessment, it doesn’t look like we’re going to get a nasty surprise.

“The truth is, we won’t know until it’s actually been completed.”

Earlier, ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny said the stress tests may end up being too tough.

“The test will be strict, perhaps even too strict,” Mr Nowotny said. “I fear that in the ambition to do this especially well, the ECB will go far beyond what the United States has done. That can lead to exaggerations,” he told Germany’s ‘Sueddeutsche Zeitung’. Read more

The bank is keeping its options open for the unit including a sale – it had €15.1bn of loans and mortgages outstanding at the end of the first quarter of the year.

It is considering “whether to organically grow a profitable bank, build a captive bank-insurance group or sell a profitable bank” it said today.
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KBC Bank also said it intends to accelerate its repayments and to make final one at the end of 2017 at the latest, instead of at the end of 2020 as agreed with European Commission.

The group still owes €2bn, excluding penalties, of the €7bn state aid that it received at the height of the credit crisis.

It added that it plans to use one third of its excess capital generated until 2017 to make these payments. Read more

He was speaking after the Boston-based insurer yesterday sealed a deal to buy Hughes Insurance, a Northern Ireland-wide provider of motor, small business and home insurance.

The deal, which is expected to close in July 2015, will also gradually see Liberty become the lead underwriter of Hughes Insurance in Northern Ireland.
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“Hughes is a top three player in Northern Ireland and this is part of our drive to become one of the three biggest insurers on the island of Ireland,” chief executive of Liberty Mutual in Ireland Patrick O’Brien said.

Staff at Hughes were briefed on the deal yesterday. Speaking in Belfast, Mr O’Brien said there are no plans for any jobs to be lost at Hughes or Liberty as a result of the deal.

Boston-based Liberty Mutual controls the former Quinn Insurance business, which it bought into originally in 2011.

The company has 1,800 staff in Ireland at sites in Cavan, Dublin, Enniskillen and Belfast – around 1,000 of them working directly in insurance. Read more

Brehon Capital and Midwest, which is the seller, acquired the residences and retail development in 2011 as part of the mixed-use complex that includes the award winning Marker Hotel for €30m beside Grand Canal Square.

The building comprises 84 luxury apartments completed to exacting standard in addition to 6 fully occupied commercial units at ground floor level, with car parking provision for 113 spaces at basement level.
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Irish Residential Properties REIT is a trust and is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.

Kevin McGillycuddy, Managing Director of Brehon Capital Partners, said: “I-RES has purchased an exceptional property with a level of design excellence that makes it unique in the Irish market.

“The sale confirms the long-term investment potential of the Docklands where Brehon Capital Partners will continue to own the Marker Hotel. We believe I-RES will be an excellent neighbour as the new owners of the Marker Residences.”

S&P became the first of the big three ratings agencies to return Ireland to the ‘A’ category last week, but it remains several levels from the prized top notch.

Ireland lost its AAA ranking from S&P in 2009.
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Kyran Curry, the agency’s sovereign ratings director, said it took seven years for Australia to regain its AAA rating. In Ireland’s case, he said it would be well beyond three years.

“The debt burden, it’s off the scale compared to other sovereigns that we follow,” Mr Curry said.

“This [return to AAA] is not something that happens overnight.”

S&P last week said it was raising its long-term sovereign credit rating for Ireland to A- from BBB+, with a positive outlook, meaning there’s a one in three chance of another upgrade in the next two years.

This came just weeks after Moody’s lifted the country’s rating by two notches in a better- than-expected assessment. The last time Ireland had an A rating was in April 2011, with S&P. Read more

Obama wanted to plan for the key accomplishments in his first term. “Your accomplishment is going to be preventing a second Great Depression”, Geithner responded. As an astute politician, Obama knew that avoiding disaster would not be enough.

Here in Ireland, the recent election results have underlined the difficult politics of disaster avoidance. After six years of painful measures to balance the Government’s books, austerity fatigue is understandably widespread. But any fair assessments have to acknowledge what would have been the likely outcomes had different policies been pursued.
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