'Value of take-home incomes up' - Cowen
Thursday, 12 November 2009 17:15
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said that statistics published today showing a 6.6% annual fall in prices in October meant that the real value of people's take-home incomes had increased by that amount.
Speaking at a conference in Dublin, he said if prices had increased by that amount, there would be loud calls for compensatory pay increases.
He said that, equally, the fact that prices were falling must be taken into account when assessing the potential impact of wage and welfare adjustments.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that consumer prices fell at an annual rate of 6.6% in October. This compared with a 6.5% annual fall in September.
Prices fell by 0.2% in October compared with September, this year. The CSO said sales led to price falls in a number of categories, such as clothing and footwear and household equipment.
Lower petrol and diesel prices also pulled transport prices lower, but increases in third-level costs contributed to a 10.9% jump in education prices in the month.
Prices of goods fell by 5.2% in the year to October, while services prices were down 7.7%.
Falls in the annual inflation rate have been hitting levels not seen since the early 1930s this year, with lower mortgage repayments one of the main reasons.
However, today's figures show that mortgage costs moved up for the second month in a row, rising 0.3%, though they are still down more than 48% over 12 months.
