6th Jan 2025 06:29
(Alliance News) - Ireland's service sector economy ended the year strongly, though the pace of its expansion eased slightly, numbers on Monday showed.
The AIB services business activity index faded to 57.1 points in December, from 58.3 in November, but remained comfortably above the 50 point neutral mark.
"The final reading of 2024 indicated a sustained sharp rise in services activity – the second-strongest since April 2023 – and the index remained well above the long-run trend level of 55.1," S&P Global said.
"All four sub-sectors posted strong growth of business activity in December. Transport, tourism & leisure (60.9) was the only sector to record faster growth than in November, taking it top of the rankings for the first time since May 2023. Technology, media & telecoms (56.8), financial services (55.9) and business services (55.9) registered similarly solid, albeit softer rates of expansion at the end of 2024."
The composite purchasing managers' index, a measure of the wider private sector, eased but remained in positive territory. The composite PMI faded to 52.1 in December from 55.2 in November.
"The services sector was again the main driver of growth in December, as manufacturing output declined at the fastest rate since June," S&P Global said.
Ireland's manufacturing sector suffered its steepest decline in six months to round off 2024, numbers on Thursday showed.
The AIB Ireland manufacturing purchasing managers' index fell to 49.1 points in December, from 49.9 in November.
The services PMI features a panel of 400 firms, with responses collected in the second half of the month.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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