NI economy: Services sector grows as retail falters

Northern Ireland's services sector grew slightly in the third quarter of 2022 while retail sales saw another steep fall.

Official figures show services' output up 0.1% compared to the second quarter and up 0.4% on the same point in 2021.

Retail sales fell for the second quarter in a row, down 1.7% on the quarter and 5.3% on an annual basis.

The production sector, which is mainly manufacturing, also grew by 0.5% over the quarter and 1.9% over the year.

The figures come as the Bank of England raised UK interest rates to their highest level for 14 years.

The growth in services and production mean that Northern Ireland probably avoided entering a technical recession in the third quarter.

A technical recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

The NI economy, as measured by the official composite index, had contracted slightly in the second quarter.

The third quarter index will not be published until January but services and production are its major components.

The continuing fall in retail sales may reflect the squeeze on household budgets.

Three broad areas of services reached record levels of output in the third quarter: business services and finance; transport, storage and IT; and other services which includes things like arts and recreation.

The quarterly growth in production was driven almost entirely by a 5.8% increase in output in the electricity and gas sector with output in manufacturing falling slightly.