Debt worries, cost of living pressures and has globalisation worked?

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Former NTMA chief Michael Somers has warned of “gradually rising” costs to service the €232.3 billion national debt, saying borrowing on that scale would have crippled the State if it was not in the single currency, writes Arthur Beesley. “Any new borrowing and refinancing of existing borrowing will be gradually rising rate but the rates are still incredibly low,” said Dr Somers, who was chief executive of the National Treasury Management Agency for 19 years until his 2009 retirement.

Six out of 10 Irish consumers currently have no money left at the end of the month as the cost-of-living crisis weighs on the finances of households globally, according to a new Deloitte survey. Joe Brennan has the details.

Is there a thornier, more divisive, issue than immigration and the labour market? Whether it depresses wages or adds to productivity or has no adverse affect on either seems to be a core question, writes Eoin Burke-Kennedy. Yet voters in many countries tend to come down on one side or the other often without recourse to the research and for deep-seated cultural reasons.

Pre-budget sums are not as flush as they look at first glance

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We are at last creating AI approaching human intellect but the underpinnings are insubstantial

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Interesting new faces on FD Technologies share register

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Central Bank lays down a marker ahead of the Budget

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Bond investors in Denis O’Brien’s Digicel face the risk of the group seeking another “comprehensive restructuring” of its “unsustainable” debt mountain as most of its borrowings fall due in the next two years, according to an analyst at Fitch. Joe Brennan reports

Pilita Clark finds that when the sleeps to Christmas start to shorten, workers get distracted.

Revenues and profits at Dublin-based games development company Digit Game Studios jumped in 2021 as the pandemic continued to drive a surge in demand for mobile games and interactive entertainment generally. In recently filed accounts, the developer, which was acquired by US game publisher and developer Scopely in 2019 for an undisclosed sum, has reported turnover of close to €20.6 million for 2021, an increase of more than 54 per cent from 2020. Ian Curran reports.

Peter Jackson, chief executive of Flutter Entertainment, argues, in our weekly opinion slot, that gambling needs a well-resourced regulator.

Enterprise communications specialist Digitalwell has partnered with national women’s domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid to collaborate on a project that will help the charity increase support for women. Ciara O’Brien reports.

An Post chief executive Dave McRedmond joins Ciarán Hancock on the latest episode of the Inside Business podcast to discuss the ongoing row between An Post and the UK’s Post Office over the implementation of post-Brexit customs rules, which is resulting in thousands of online purchases being returned to British retailers. Later on, we hear from two Dublin city centre business owners, Stephen Kennedy of Copper+Straw cafe and Sean Crescenzi of Happy Endings restaurant.