Average Irish mortgage drawdowns hit a record of almost €328,000 in the first three months of the year, according to figures from the banking industry, as borrowers took on more debt as home prices continued to soar amid a shortage of properties for sale, the Irish Times reported. This was driven by a 9.6 per cent annual rise in loans on second-hand properties, to €370,790, according to Banking and Payments Federation Ireland’s (BPFI) latest quarterly mortgage drawdowns report, which draws on data going back to 2005.

The Spanish economy continued to expand at a rapid pace at the start of the year, signalling continued underlying strength in the wealthy world’s top-performing economy ahead of trade tariffs that could yet put a brake on momentum, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product increased by 0.6% in the first three months of the year, in line with economists’ estimates, according to figures set out Tuesday by Spain’s statistics agency. Exports of goods and services rose 1.0%, accelerating rapidly from the previous quarter.

U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats are creating uncertainty for economies around the world but there is still margin for further interest rate cuts in Europe as inflation in the euro-zone heads lower, European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Monday, Reuters reported. "We are in a moment of great uncertainty ... Mr Trump's polices are not working. The policies of this Trump administration are playing against the U.S. economy and unfortunately also against the world economy," Villeroy - who is also head of the Bank of France - told RTL Radio.

Spain’s unemployment rate rose in the first quarter, a sign of some caution among employers in an economy nonetheless expected to outperform its peers this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Joblessness rose to 11.4% between January and March from 10.6% in the final months of last year, according to figures released Monday by Spain’s statistics authority. This is the first time since the first quarter of last year that unemployment has increased in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy. Joblessness rose in all sectors, including in services and industry.

Talks between the UK and India on a free trade agreement have entered the final stretch, with both sides now wrangling over five unresolved issues, according to an official in New Delhi familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will tackle some of these issues during his two-day visit to the UK that begins Monday.He is scheduled to meet Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.

Spain and Portugal were hit by a major power outage that caused widespread disruption to flights, traffic and telecommunications across the Iberian Peninsula, the Wall Street Journal reported. Businesses, hospitals and other critical infrastructure were forced to rely on backup generators and homes were without electricity as authorities scrambled to identify the cause of Monday’s blackout. Grid operators in both countries said they were progressively reinstating power.

Homelessness represents the "single biggest risk" to council finances and may cause effective bankruptcy, according to the organisation that represents London boroughs, BBC.com reported. London Councils, a cross party group that represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London, estimated that councils in the capital had been forced to overspend on their homelessness budgets by at least £330m in 2024-25. Local authorities have a legal duty to provide temporary accommodation to anyone who qualifies as homeless - the number of which has risen in recent years.

Nearly one-tenth more companies went insolvent in England and Wales in March than the same time last year, according to new figures, The Independent reported. The number of registered firms that went bust was 1,992 last month, according to the Insolvency Service, a 2% fall compared with February but a 9% increase compared with March 2024. Creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), when the directors of a company choose to close it down, made up the majority of the numbers, at 1,543, an 8% year-on-year rise.

Ukraine said Thursday that it failed to strike a deal to restructure $2.6 billion of debt securities, heightening its risk of default, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Ukraine’s finance ministry said it didn’t accept a proposal from a group of investors holding warrants linked to the country’s gross domestic product ahead of a payment due around the end of May. Ukraine intends to continue to engage with warrant holders and consider all available restructuring options, the finance ministry said.

The head of the Swiss National Bank said on Friday that cryptocurrencies failed to meet the institution's currency reserve standards, rebuffing calls by crypto advocates that it hold bitcoin as a hedge against growing global economic risks, Reuters reported. Cryptocurrency campaigners are ramping up pressure on the SNB to buy bitcoin, arguing that the economic turmoil triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs made it more important for the central bank to diversify its reserves.