Can Northern Ireland economy build on green shoots of recovery?
BBC News NI economics and business editor
They suggest that the services sector, by far the biggest part of the economy, finished the year strongly.Output showed a quarterly increase of 1%, a much better performance than the second and third quarters. A deeper analysis shows that most of that fall in output was due to a weaker performance in the electricity and gas sector, but that may just be a reflection of energy prices coming down from record highs.The two main manufacturing subsectors, engineering and food, both had a good quarter.
Most economic forecasts for Northern Ireland suggest that unemployment will start to rise as the cost of living crisis continues to hit consumer demand and then company profits.In fact, in January, the Northern Ireland unemployment rate fell back to just 2.4%, the lowest it has been since the pandemic.
It is not an official statistic but is usually a pretty good guide to where the official statistics are going. A cooling housing market is not just an issue for construction; it will also feed through to professional services like law and estate agency.
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