(Alliance News) - Activity in Ireland's service sector increased in December, according to the latest survey figures on Thursday.
The AIB Ireland purchasing managers' index rose to 52.7 in December, from 50.8 in November. Rising higher above the 50.0 no-change mark, it shows growth sped up during the month.
"That said, the pace of growth was still the second-weakest registered over the current 22-month period of expansion. The Index was below its long-run average of 55.1 for the fifth consecutive month," AIB noted.
"Service demand growth quickened in Ireland during December, while remaining modest overall, with just a marginal increase in new export business. There was only a slight increase also in backlogs of outstanding business. However, there was a further solid rise in employment, while, firms' outlook for the next 12 months improved, recovering the ground lost in November," explained Oliver Mangan, AIB chief economist.
The AIB Ireland composite PMI - which weights averages of manufacturing and services PMI indices - rose to 50.5 in December from 48.8 in November. This shows the private sector overall is out of contraction territory.
On Tuesday, the AIB Ireland manufacturing PMI was unchanged at 48.7 points in December.
The AIB Ireland services PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to surveys sent to around 400 Irish service sector companies.
By Elizabeth Winter, Alliance News senior markets reporter
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