NI economy returned to growth in third quarter

Northern Ireland's economy returned to growth in the third quarter of 2023, with output expanding by 0.6% over the quarter and 2.2% over the year.

The figure from the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) show growth was driven almost entirely by the services sector.

Services output was up by 1.5% over the quarter with growth in all the main services sub-sectors.

Northern Ireland's economy is now 6.2% bigger than it was before the pandemic.

Nisra said the improved performance in the third quarter came against the backdrop of declining inflation.

It added that challenging conditions remain for households and businesses that are "adjusting to the upward shift in price levels for goods and services and the higher interest rate environment".

More recent industry surveys, such as the Ulster Bank's monthly survey, suggest that companies have faced a worsening business environment since the end of the summer.

The Nisra figures also suggest the Northern Ireland economy may have been performing better than the UK average.

However, that comes with a significant caveat as the UK and NI figures are not fully comparable.

The figures show that from the end of 2019 until the third quarter of 2023 the output of the UK economy expanded by 1.5% while in NI the growth was 6.2%.

Some analysis has suggested that NI's post-Brexit deal, which gives it continuing privileged access to the EU single market for goods, has helped its economic performance compared to the rest of the UK.

However, that does not account for the fact that NI's growth has been driven by the services sector, which is not part of the Brexit deal.