IN BRIEF (Page 6)

Sino-Irish trade up 16 percent

The total value of the goods trade between China and Ireland reached $2.09 billion in the first two months of this year, up 16.3 percent year-on-year from a year earlier, according to data released by the Chinese embassy in Ireland. An official with the economic and commercial section of the embassy quoted the latest Chinese customs statistics as saying that during the January-February period of this year, China imported goods worth $1.58 billion from Ireland and exported $510 million of goods to Ireland, up 9.43 percent and 44.47 percent respectively over a year ago.

Lenders see net forex sales drop