Service industry sector suffering a slow down

GROWTH in Ireland’s services sector eased to its lowest in almost a year last month.

A drop-off in optimism was also recorded in October, with service providers the least confident since September 2016, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

However total new business increased at a substantial pace, with the rate of growth accelerating from the previous month.

“Somewhat puzzlingly, the forward-looking ‘Business Activity: Expected Levels in 12 Months’ index weakened to its lowest since September 2016 in spite of the stronger client orders,” said Philip O’Sullivan, economist with Investec, which produces the report.