(Alliance News) - Growth stalled in Ireland's services sector in November, S&P Global said on Monday, as recession fears, the energy crisis and rising living costs weighed on confidence.
The latest AIB Ireland services purchasing manager's index fell to 50.8 points in November from 53.2 in October. The drop in the services PMI towards the 50-point no-change mark shows that growth has slowed in Ireland.
Growth was maintained in three of the four sub sector, with Technology, Media & Telecoms the fastest growing category at 55.9, overtaking Financial Services at 52.6. Business Services, at 51.3, posted the weakest growth.
Transport, Tourism & Leisure faced a drop in activity for the thirst consecutive month, falling at the fastest rate since February 2021.
"As has been the pattern in recent months, the index was again weighed down by a very weak performance by the Transport/Tourism/Leisure sector, which registered a reading of just 40.2 for business activity. The overall services index, though, remains in expansion territory at above 50, unlike elsewhere," noted Oliver Mangan, AIB chief economist.
The composite PMI - a weighted average of manufacturing and services indices - fell into contraction, with a reading of 48.8 points in November, down from 52.1 in October. This marks the first decline in private sector business activity since February 2021.
The overall decline was down to the manufacturing sector. The manufacturing PMI, released last week, fell to 48.7 points in November from 51.4 points in October. The index has fallen seven times in the past eight months.
The services PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of around 400 service sector companies. The responses were collected between November 11 and 25.
By Harvey Dorset; harveydorset@alliancenews.com
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