Pharmacy Pulse Report Q2 2022

Pharmacy awards

The Irish Pharmacy awards took place in May; winners included Laura Dowling of Lloyds Pharmacy for Precision Biotics Community Pharmacist of the Year, and Perrystown Allcare Pharmacy for the Originalis Community Pharmacy Team of the Year Award. Congratulations to all the winners!

Rising prices

Inflation in the Eurozone rose 8.6% year on year in June, with energy prices remaining the biggest contributor to accelerating prices, rising 41.9%. Core inflation, which excludes volatile factors such as energy but also food, alcohol and tobacco, and is watched closely by European Central Bank policymakers, remained stable at 3.7%.

Walgreens halts Boots sale

Upheaval in the credit markets has led Walgreens Boots Alliance to stop the sale process for the Boots chain in the UK. Walgreens announced that despite interest no offers had been received that reflected the value of the business.

Global economic trends

Global economic growth is expected to decrease over the year as the US Federal Reserve continued to increase interest rates, targeting a range of 2.25% to 2.5%. The United States officially entered a recession, although there are debates whether an economy still creating 528,000 jobs a month can be in recession.

Irish economy

Irish economic growth is projected to remain strong, but faces substantial uncertainty due to the indirect effects from the war in Ukraine. In the latest health check on the country’s economy the IMF said that energy and commodity prices would likely push average inflation above 6% this year, projected to average 6.5%, before falling to 2.8% next year.