NI economy grew during the summer, figures suggest

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.

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.