The Northern Ireland economy grew over the summer months, two new official reports suggest.
Output in the services sector increased by 1.1% over the three months to September, while the production sector grew by 1.2%.
Retail output also increased by 2.7% over the third quarter of 2024, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) said.
The services sector, which accounts for the greater part of the northern economy, grew by 3.1% year-on-year to reach an all-time high.
Nisra said the growth over the summer period was boosted by the recovery of the retail and hospitality sector, where output increased by 2%; and by the transport, storage, information and communications sector, which increased by 3.4%.
The latter includes the north’s tech sector.
The north’s business services and finance sector, which had been the bedrock of recent services growth, contracted by 1.4% in the July to September period.
But it remained 1.9% up on an annual basis.
The sub-sector has grown by around 30% since the end of 2019.
The latest production index from Nisra suggests the north’s manufacturing sector recorded a 1.6% recovery in the July to September period, leaving output 1.3% up year-on-year.
It marked the sharpest quarterly increase in almost four years, with manufacturing output at its strongest since the second quarter of 2023.
Manufacturing represents around 80% of the production index.
Meanwhile, Nisra’s retail sales index (RSI) brought better news for the often beleaguered sector.
The index, which does not include the motor trade, said retail output in the north was up by 5% in the year to September 2024.
RSI output in the north remained 1.5% below pre-Coronavirus pandemic levels.
