Ulster Bank survey: Service industries driving private sector growth

The service industry is wide-ranging, encompassing catering, beauty treatments, communications, financial advice and IT support

Northern Ireland's services sector continued to grow in May but construction, manufacturing and retail faltered, a survey suggests.

Every month Ulster Bank asks a representative sample of firms about issues such as new orders, employment and exports.

The performance of the services sector was sufficient to drive overall growth in the private sector.

However that growth was weaker than has been seen in recent months.

Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said the survey suggests overall business activity has now been growing for four successive months, although May's performance was "the slowest rate of expansion in this sequence".

"Employment growth also eased to a four-month low but local firms increased their staffing levels at the fastest rate of all UK regions except Scotland," he added.

Mr Ramsey said the survey also suggests the rate of inflation is continuing to ease with some firms starting to feel the impact of lower energy prices.

Some wholesale energy prices, such as natural gas, have fallen substantially from the peaks reached last summer and are now close to levels seen before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Depending on how they buy their power, some firms may see those lower costs before domestic customers feel the benefit.

Some economists have revised up their forecasts for the Northern Ireland economy this year, suggesting a recession will be avoided.

Official data on employment and the performance of services and manufacturing are due to be published this week.