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Ireland service sector growth slows but stays strong in October

5th Nov 2024 07:19

(Alliance News) - Ireland's burgeoning services industry slipped back slightly last month, but overall private sector growth improved thanks to manufacturing, purchasing managers' index survey results from S&P Global showed on Tuesday.

The AIB Ireland services business activity index declined to 53.8 points in October from 55.7 in September, but remained well above the neutral mark of 50 points.

David McNamara, chief economist at lender AIB, said the Irish services sector lost some momentum, but the picture remained robust.

"Overall, Irish firms reported strong growth in new business, and this was linked to both domestic and foreign demand," he said. "Export orders, in particular, grew strongly in October, linked to strengthening demand from Europe."

The Irish services sector is growing faster than the same sectors in the UK and the eurozone, McNamara noted, though slightly slower than in the US.

By contrast, the AIB composite PMI output index improved to 52.6 points last month from 52.1 in September, also well into expansion territory.

The composite index is a blend of the services and manufacturing PMIs, and the factory reading, out on Friday last week, swung to the positive score of 51.5 points in October from 49.4 in September.

The services PMI is compiled by S&P Global from the responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of 400 service providers in Ireland. Survey responses are collected in the second half of the month.

By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor

Comments and questions to [email protected]

Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights reserved.

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