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Ireland’s service economy continued to grow comfortably in August, amid sound domestic and international demand, purchasing managers’ index survey results from S&P Global showed on Wednesday.
The AIB Ireland services business activity index ticked up to 53.8 points in August from 53.6 in July, signalling growth accelerated last month.
David McNamara, AIB chief economist said: ‘Overall, Irish firms reported accelerating growth in new business, and this was linked to domestic and international demand. The volume of outstanding work also rose at a faster pace on the month. The survey shows gains in all four sub-sectors covered by the survey for the first time in three months.
‘Notable in the August survey was the sharp bounce back in activity in the Transport, Tourism & Leisure sector, following several months of contraction; while the growth in financial services eased markedly following a period of rapid expansion in recent months.’
S&P Global added: ‘Although growth of both new and outstanding business picked up in August, overall confidence regarding activity growth over the next 12 months moderated. Overall sentiment was the weakest since April 2021 and below the long-run survey trend.’
The AIB Ireland composite PMI output index improved to 52.6 points in August from 52.2 in July, staying above the 2024 average so far of 52.0 points. The composite PMI combines the services and manufacturing results. On Monday, S&P said the Irish manufacturing PMI improved to 50.4 points last month from 50.1 in July.
‘Incoming new business expanded moderately again, despite a slightly faster decrease in manufacturing new orders. Meanwhile the rate of employment growth reached the highest for a year,’ S&P Global said.
The services PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to a panel of around 400 service sector companies in Ireland. The results were collected between August 12 and 27.
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