{"id":1034764,"date":"2026-06-18T14:57:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1034764\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:57:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:57:25","slug":"fresh-data-shows-northern-ireland-is-outperforming-wider-uk-economy-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1034764\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh data shows Northern Ireland is outperforming wider UK economy \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The all-important services sector in Northern Ireland is back in firm growth mode and is outperforming the rest of the UK, official government data shows.<\/p>\n

Latest economic output statistics from Nisra point to broad-based growth across services, retail and production in the first quarter of 2026, with performance generally outpacing the UK. <\/p>\n

And the data points to a resilient economy, continuing to move further above pre\u2011pandemic levels, supported by strong gains in business services, manufacturing and energy-related sectors.<\/p>\n

The key services sector, which makes up the largest share of north\u2019s economic activity, grew by 0.9% over the quarter and by 2.3% over the year, which compares favourably with the UK, where services output rose 0.8% quarterly and 1.4% annually. <\/p>\n

\"Live:<\/a>\"Crossmaglen<\/a><\/p>\n

Services output in Northern Ireland now sits 11.3% above its pre\u2011pandemic level, outperforming the UK\u2019s 8.4%. <\/p>\n

Growth was driven by strong quarterly increases in business services and finance (up 4.1%), transport, storage, information and communications (up 3%), and other services (up 2.6%), partially offset by a small decline in wholesale, retail, accommodation and food services. <\/p>\n

Annual growth was similarly led by business services, other services and transport\u2011related sectors.<\/p>\n

Retail output, a subset of services, rose 2.1% in the January-March quarter and 1.8% over the year, and is currently 3.9% above its pre\u2011pandemic level, while Britain remains 0.7% below. <\/p>\n

Over the most recent four\u2011quarter period, retail output locally increased 4.4% – more than double the GB rate.<\/p>\n

The production sector recorded the strongest performance, with output rising 2.1% over the quarter and 7.6% over the year, contrasting sharply with the UK, where production increased by a mere 0.2% quarterly and 0.1% annually. <\/p>\n

Production output in the north is now 10.3% above its pre\u2011pandemic level, while the UK remains 7% below. <\/p>\n

\"SweetenerProduction output in Northern Ireland is now 10.3% above its pre\u2011pandemic level, new government statistics show <\/p>\n

Growth was driven by manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, and mining and quarrying, with a 6% decline in water supply and waste management partially offsetting those gains.<\/p>\n

The output data comes a week ahead of the publication of the Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index (NICEI), which is considered the closest thing Stormont has to measuring GDP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The all-important services sector in Northern Ireland is back in firm growth mode and is outperforming the rest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1034765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2814,1144,19755,363,1199,16,15],"class_list":["post-1034764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-data","tag-northern-ireland","tag-production","tag-retail","tag-services","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116771702091470999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1034765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}