There is good news on the horizon for businesses but also plenty of uncertainty, according to Treasury Solutions CEO John Finn.
Having already made three interest rate cuts so far this year, the European Central Bank is expected to cut rates again when it meets in mid-December.
Further rate cuts are also predicted in 2025.
""The markets are forecasting that the base rate should drop to 2% next year - it's currently at 3.25%," he said. "Between 2.25 and 2% is where it will end - but a lot depends on inflation and whether it keeps falling.
"But that's the first bit of good news as we head into 2025."
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At the same time, though, the Bank of England has indicated that its interest rate cuts will come at a slower pace than had previously been predicted. Its rates are already far higher than what is in place in the eurozone.
Meanwhile there is little certainty around what direction the Federal Reserve will take next year - particularly as the Trump administration begins to make its mark on the economy.
That has implications for Irish firms - particularly with regard to the exchange rate.
"Exchanges are driven by two things in particular - the geopolitical scene and the interest rate differential," he said. "If you have a larger interest rate differential the country that has the higher interest rate, the currency should get strong.
"That's kind of what we're seeing with the dollar in the past few weeks."
Mr Finn said the expectation was that the dollar and euro could move towards parity in the near future.
That would be good news for exporting firms, as it would make their goods cheaper to their US customers.
However it would be bad news for importers - and for areas like energy and fuel, where prices would likely increase.
In terms of the euro exchange rate with sterling, Mr Finn said things are less certain.
"I don't think the UK economy is in great shape, but I don't think the outlook for Europe is particularly rosy either," he said. "Sterling/Euro has been in a very narrow range for the last couple of years - 87-88p - it's averaging just under 85p this year.
"I could see it hang around the 83, 84, 85p - I don't see it going back to 87p in the short-term."
Though he said the geopolitical situation also plays a part, and nobody is in a position to predict where things will go on that front.
Through the Treasury Hub, Mr Finn meets regularly with businesses around the country.
In its latest meeting, he said that firms were most concerned about how they handle the significant price and cost increases they have seen in recent years.
That includes the cumulative effect of high inflation over the past three years, as well as additional wage and administrative burdens that have arisen recently.
"The issue is not that there's minimum wage hikes - it's that there's a bunching of all these things together," he said. "The real sense is that they won't be able to push up prices on the other side.
"Consumers are now very price-conscious now, and businesses the same. So if you can't push prices up on the output side, but you're still coming under pressure on the input side, you're getting squeezed in terms of profits."
He said this was a threat to the viability of many firms in the SME sector - which was of particularly importance if the country wants to try to reduce its dependance on multinationals.
