Economy

Varadkar and Martin accept Central Bank warning on budget spending

Gabriel Makhlouf, Central Bank Governor, said that if fiscal policy adds to aggregate demand in the economy, then monetary policy interest rates “will have to work harder” to bring inflation back to target

  • June 2, 2023
Gabriel Makhlouf: “A period of restrictive monetary policy is now needed to stem inflation and return it to its 2 per cent target in the medium term.”

The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have accepted advice from the Central Bank that government needs to be cautious that budgetary policy does not fuel further inflation.

Across the euro area, inflation is now at 6.1 per cent, down from a peak of 10.6 per cent in October 2022.

In Ireland it is now down to 5.4 per cent, according to the flash estimate released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday, down from 9.6 per cent ...