Coronavirus: Services sector shrinks by more than 4% in first quarter

The Northern Ireland services sector shrank by more than 4% in the first quarter of 2020.

That was the sharpest quarterly decline since the figures were first recorded in 2005.

The data covers January to March and so includes the earliest stages of the lockdown.

The first government advice on social distancing was published on 12 March before the formal lockdown was announced on 23 March.

The business services and finance sector showed a steep fall in output, down by 7.6% compared to the last quarter of 2019.

Retail and hospitality, the biggest services subsector, saw output down by 2.6%.

The production sector, which is mostly manufacturing, saw output down by 3.2% in the first quarter.

Figures for the output of the whole Northern Ireland economy will be published next month.