April dip in Irish business and consumer confidence not yet sufficient to delay key spending decisions
The past week has seen a flurry of surveys on Irish business and consumer confidence in April ,helping to gauge the impact of US tariff related uncertainty. Sentiment has clearly taken a hit. Irish consumer confidence fell to a 2-year low in April but remains well above the previous trough in 2022 when CPI inflation was close to 10%. Hence, the damage to key spending decisions looks limited so far. Households’ savings intentions or plans to make a major purchase were little changed in April. Questions on the likelihood Irish households will renovate their existing home, or plan to buy a new home in the next 12-months, continued to improve.
Similarly, despite the challenging global outlook a net majority of Irish firms still expect output to expand over the next 12-months, evident in PMIs above the 50 no-change level, whereas European/UK readings point to contraction. Hence, Irish firms’ employment intentions were little changed in April, still pointing to further jobs growth in 2025.
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