THE north's economy grew at a faster pace than the UK as a whole, according to the official figures.
Revised data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said UK gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.1 per cent in the final three months of 2022.
While that was better than the previously reported data, which recorded zero growth in the UK during the fourth quarter (Q4), it was well below the 1.4 per cent growth in the north over the same period.
Northern Ireland’s official statistics body said that the growth in the final quarter of 2022 ensured the north's economy emerged from a technical recession.
Unlike the wider UK economy, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) previously reported two successive quarters of decline in the second and third quarters of last year, crossing the threshold for a technical recession.
But a recovery of the north’s services and construction sectors late last year saw Northern Ireland bounce back to grow at a faster pace than the UK economy as a whole.
Significantly, Nisra’s latest composite economic index, considered a similar measure to GDP, showed the north’s economy has finally recovered to its pre-housing bubble peak from 2007.
Output is also now 5.6 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Nisra said the north’s crucial services sector is continuing to record a strong post-Covid recovery and was “the main driver of growth” in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The statistic body’s recently published services index showed the sector hit a record high in the final three months of last year.
Ranging from financial services and IT to retail and hospitality, services accounts for the greater part of the Northern Ireland private sector.
The sector’s growth was partly driven by significant surge in a sub-sector classed by Nisra as ‘other services’. Output in the category, which includes private health and social care, was almost 14 per cent higher in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to a year earlier.
ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said: "The economy performed a little more strongly in the latter half of last year than previously estimated, with later data showing telecommunications, construction and manufacturing all faring better than initially thought in the latest quarter.
"Households saved more in the last quarter, with their finances boosted by the Government's energy bill support scheme.
"Meanwhile, the UK's balance of payments deficit with the rest of the world narrowed, driven by increased foreign earnings by UK companies, particularly in the energy sector."
Earlier this month, the ONS reported an improvement in the economy in January, delivering a 0.3 per cent increase in GDP during the month.”
