Ireland's services sector grows at fastest pace in 9 yrs

Due to the improving conditions in both export markets and the domestic economy, the Irish services sector grew at its fastest pace in nine years in June, according to the latest data released Friday.

The June Irish services purchasing managers' index (PMI), compiled by Investec, showed the monthly index stood at 63.3, up from 61.4 the previous month.

The June index was better than the eight-year high of 62.6 posted in December last year, Investec said.

It added that the increased expansion of activity in June is now shown to have risen consistently for the last 35 consecutive months.

Investec is a leading international, specialist banking group with it's headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Investec's monthly services PMI covers all private sector services in Ireland, excluding retail and wholesale, and provides timely data on an area of the economy that is not well covered by official figures. The data are derived from questionnaires sent to a representative panel of around 450 Irish private-sector service companies.

The survey showed 38 percent of panelists in the services sector registered a rise in activity during the month, compared with eight percent which reported a decline. Retail and tourism were among the strongest performers.

Around 60 percent of respondents forecast an increase in activity over the coming 12 months. Just five percent predicted a decrease.

Investec Ireland's chief economist Philip O'Sullivan said the latest index reveals the strongest rise in activity for the sector since September 2006.

"Activity has now risen in each of the past 35 months, while nearly five times as many panelists have reported a rise in activity against the number that are experiencing a decline," he said.

"Given the improving signs around both the key export markets for services firms based here and the domestic economy, we believe that this optimism is well-founded," O'Sullivan said. Enditem