Northern Ireland’s private sector continued to contract last month as the pressures from the cost-of-living crisis, relatively high interest rates and worries over the wider economic outlook continued to weigh.
However. the first signs of optimism have emerged from an easing in the rate of price hikes with input costs and output price inflation easing to two-year lows, according to the latest PMI report from Ulster Bank.
The report said there are signs the downturn is beginning to lose pace while companies were more optimistic about the next 12 months and employment increased.
