The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned that the recent growth in Irish house prices is "reminiscent of the bubble period of a decade ago," it says that the Government should take action to stop another bubble developing.
The think-tank's annual Economic Outlook says that, "Further macro-prudential tools should be used, if necessary, to prevent investors becoming excessively exposed" - it does not suggest specifically which actions should be taken.
This issue aside, the report offers a positive assessment of the Irish economy, saying that “Economic growth is projected to be robust and broad-based in 2015 and 2016,” with exports remaining strong, consumption increasing, wages rising and unemployment decreasing.
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The US Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into FIFA bribery and corruption is reported to be examining the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
Speaking to Reuters under the condition of anonymity, the news agency reports that a US law enforcement official has confirmed that these World Cup bids, which were not covered by the investigation which led to the arrests of high-ranking FIFA officials last week, are being investigated.
Former FIFA vice president, Jack Warner claims that an "avalanche" of corruption evidence is coming, and that FIFA President Sepp Blatter will be drawn into the scandal.
Elsewhere, Irish Independent reports today that FIFA established a company called FIFA Ireland Ltd in 2001 for tax purposes. It says that it had an office in Dublin's IFSC, and revenues of over €113m during the eight years that it was active, but it had no staff directly employed here.
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Greek PM Alexis Tsipras had a five-hour meeting with the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Junker and the Chair of the Eurozone finance Ministers, Dutch Finance Minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem yesterday, all sides indicated that progress was made.
Mr Tsipras is quoted as saying the parties are close to a deal on the primary budget surplus Greece will be required to generate starting with 1 percent this year and rising to 3.5 percent in 2018. Primary surplus is the excess of government revenue over outgoings before debt servicing costs taken into account.
But the Greek Prime Minister also noted that his government still rejected some of the creditors’ proposals – which are believed to cover additional pension reform and higher and more consistent VAT rates.
A spokesperson for Syriza told the BBC last night that Greece would not accept an ultimatum and that any final proposals presented might have to go before the Greek people in the form of a General Election.
Alexis Tsipras also seemed to indicate that the €300m loan repayment to the IMF tomorrow would be met – “Don’t worry about that,” he said.
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The US Federal Reserve says the US economy grew through April and May after a surprise contraction of up to 0.7 percent in the first three months of the year, due to some degree to extreme weather and a major port strike.
In its so-called Beige Book review of activity across the US, the Central Bank said the outlook among respondents was generally optimistic for the rest of the year though the energy industry had been hit by the fall in the price of oil and had cut back on drilling activity and employee numbers
But the OECD has cut its latest forecasts of US growth to just 2 percent this year and 2.8 percent in 2016 – that’s down from prior forecasts of 3.1 percent and 3 percent respectively.
