(Alliance News) - Growth in the Irish service sector weakened further as outlook dimmed, data from S&P Global said on Wednesday.
The services business activity index fell to 54.1 in September, from 54.7 in August. It was the nineteenth consecutive monthly growth in services output, albeit at the weakest rate over this period.
The weaker rise in total business activity reflected a slower rate of expansion in new business, while fears around the impact of inflation on demand hurt the outlook.
Irish private sector companies continued to report higher new business volumes in September, but the rate of growth in demand was the weakest in the current 19-month period of rising sales.
"The 12-month outlook for service sector activity remained positive in September, but the strength of confidence was the weakest in nearly two years and well below the long-run survey trend," S&P Global said.
The seasonally adjusted Ireland composite output index registered 52.2 in September, up from 51.0 in August. This shows the second-weakest rise in output in the current 19-month expansionary sequence.
AIB Chief Economist Oliver Mangan said: "The AIB Irish services PMI for September showed that while activity continued to expand at a solid pace, the month registered the slowest rate of growth since February 2021. For services as a whole, growth in new business remained strong, most notably in Technology, Media, Telecoms and Business Services, although new export business fell back to its weakest level since January."
The PMI is complied by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of around 400 service sector companies.
By Xindi Wei; xindiwei@alliancenews.com
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