NI economy grew during the summer, figures suggest

The services sector grew by 1.1%

Northern Ireland's economy was growing during the third quarter of 2024, official figures suggest.

Services, which is the largest part of the economy, saw output expand by 1.1% compared to the previous quarter.

That growth was driven by a recovery in retail and hospitality with quarterly growth of 2%.

There was also the first sign of a recovery in manufacturing with the best quarterly growth since early 2021.

'Inflation has come down'

Manufacturing output was up by 1.6% over the quarter and by 1.3% compared to the same time last year.

The manufacturing sector has had a difficult few years with output broadly flat after an initial post-pandemic recovery.

Companies have been hit by challenges like high energy costs, supply chain disruptions and skills shortages.

Earlier this year Terex, one of the biggest manufacturing employers, made a round of redundancies and other cost cutting measures.

By contrast the services sector has seen steady growth since the pandemic with output now almost 11% above the level at the end of 2019.

That growth had been led by business services, which includes things like accountancy and consulting, which has grown by almost 30% in five years.

However it saw decline of 1.4% in the third quarter which may reflect reduced activity at some big consultancy firms.

Consumer services saw a strong performance with retail sales growing by almost 3% over the quarter and by 5% over the year.

That may reflect improving household finances as the rate of inflation has come down.