Covid-19: Summer boom and record output in NI services sector

The Northern Ireland services sector performed strongly during the summer, hitting a record level of output.

In the period July to August it grew by 2.8% compared with the previous quarter and by 5.7% compared with the same time in 2020.

The growth came when Covid restrictions had been lifted and hospitality and tourism were trading well.

Those sectors are now facing a significant challenge from the Covid-19 Omicron variant wave.

During the summer the housing market was also growing strongly, boosting business services like law and estate agency.

Ulster Bank economist Richard Ramsey said the performance meant the service sector had "finally recovered" the output lost during the property crash recession almost 15 years ago.

The tourism and hospitality sectors traded well during the summer

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) said services output was 2.2% above the pre-pandemic levels seen at the of 2019, while UK service output was 0.7% below.

All broad sectors saw growth, with the biggest annual growth of 17% in business services.

Variation in manufacturing

The Northern Ireland production sector, which is mostly manufacturing, showed no quarterly growth in the third quarter of the year but output was up by 3.6% compared with the same period in 2020.

The production sector has had less dramatic swings in output than services as it was not so severely affected by lockdowns.

Overall output in production was still 0.1% below its pre-pandemic level and 8.7% below its highest level in 2008.

There were significant variation manufacturing between sectors: food and beverage production was up 9% year on year.

That may reflect more local sourcing of food due to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Output in the textile sector was down by 26% year on year which may reflect a fall from the peak demand period for personal protective equipment.