Economic Research Unit

The Economic Research Unit (ERU) provides commentary and analysis of economic and market events in Ireland, the UK, the Euro Area and US.

The ERU prepares regular reports on the global, UK and Irish economies. Our latest publications are available for download here.

If you would like to get in touch, you can contact the team on economics@boi.com.

 

Rate hike bets ratchet up

20.03.2026 Daily blog

As expected, the ECB and Bank of England (BoE) left interest rates unchanged at 2% and 3.75% respectively at yesterday’s meetings. Both said inflation is set to rise in the near-term on account of higher energy prices and warned of upside risks to the inflation outlook further out (with the BoE stating it is “prepared […]

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  • Weekly Round Up

    Irish house price inflation rises to 7% in January

    18.03.2026

    This morning’s Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) indicates house price inflation saw a surprise acceleration to 7% in January. However, we still believe momentum will slow towards our forecast for a 4% rise through 2026. MyHome asking price inflation fell to 5.4% in Q4 2025. Also, the average first-time-buyer mortgage approval was €320,000 in January, […]

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  • Global Watch

    Global Watch January 2026

    21.01.2026

    The US economy has held up better than expected though employment growth has slowed and unemployment has edged up, prompting the Fed to lower interest rates over the final months of last year. We expect it to cut by a further 50bps in 2026, in line with current market pricing. We also see the Bank […]

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  • Ireland Outlook

    Ireland Outlook – January 2026

    27.01.2026

    New Irish Economic Forecasts We have revised up slightly our forecast for Irish GDP growth to 11.2% in 2025, slowing to 2.8% in 2026. This reflects the surge in exports that occurred last year, which we believe mainly reflected new pharmaceutical facilities coming online. However, a key risk is that exports fall back as ‘front-running’ […]

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  • Ireland Infographic

    Ireland Infographic – January 2026

    27.01.2026

    We expect GDP will expand by 11.2% in 2025, 2.8% this year and by 3.5% in 2027. View the Ireland Infographic Here: Bank of Ireland Ireland Infographic January 2026

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  • UK Outlook

    UK Outlook – February 2026

    06.02.2026

    Ongoing moderate growth amidst risks We have marginally downgraded our 2026 and 2027 GDP forecasts, to 1.0% (from 1.2%) and 1.4% (from 1.5%), reflecting a loss of momentum through late 2025 and ongoing challenges and risks. Unemployment is set to rise more than previously expected – reaching 5.5% this year before levelling off and beginning […]

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  • UK Infographic

    UK Infographic – February 2026

    06.02.2026

    We expect that UK GDP increased by 1.4% last year and will grow by 1.0% in 2026 and 1.4% in 2027. Download the UK Infographic in Full Here: Bank of Ireland UK Infographic February 2026

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Meet the team

Conall Mac Coille, Group Chief Economist
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Michael Crowley, Senior Economist
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Patrick Mullane, Senior Economist
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Conn Creedon, Senior Economist
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Diane Woods, Economist/Operations Manager
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