The Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) have today warned of their concern with the continued increases in the cost of living.
This comes after the release of the CSO inflation figures for December which show that prices on average, as measured by the CPI, remained unchanged in December compared with December 2015, while also the monthly CPI figures for December remained unchanged at -0.2%.
The Association has called on the Government to reduce "exorbitant" insurance, bank interest and legal fees and to ensure that all state-imposed business costs are benchmarked internationally.
Furthermore, they have called on the Government to ensure that SMEs are not hampered by labour, tax or regulatory increases.
Speaking today, CEO of ISME, Neil McDonnell said, "Our latest research shows that 30% of our members have experienced inflationary pressures of over 6% in transport costs, while a further 67% have experienced over 6% increases to their insurance premiums."
He added, "These increases are unsustainable for businesses, Government needs to address the issue of state influenced costs which account for 48% of the consumer price index and create an environment that is conducive to supporting and growing the SME sector in 2017."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
