Business activity in Northern Ireland has dropped for the first time in around a year with factors like the Holyhead port shutdown playing a part, a survey said today.
According to the Ulster Bank NI Growth Tracker, a fall in new orders meant business activity contracted for NI firms in December.
Nonetheless, employment increased during the month, although input costs were also going up.
Sebastian Burnside, NatWest chief economist, said: “The Northern Ireland private sector ended 2024 on a softer note, recording the first reduction in business activity for more than a year on the back of a further decline in new orders.
“This represented a marked turnaround in fortunes for local firms as rapid growth was recorded through much of 2024, even through to as late as October, when Northern Ireland was the strongest performer across the UK.”
He said Northern Ireland was the only part of the UK to see a rise in staffing levels during December, with employment now up for 24 months in a row.
The overall business activity index had dropped from 51.5 in November to 47.7 in December, the first fall in activity for 13 months.
In general, firms said waning customer demand was to blame, even though business sentiment had recovered slightly.
But confidence was weaker than the average for the year as whole, in some cases due to the UK Budget, though concerns about NI Water’s budget were also playing on minds.
And supplier delivery times got longer for the fourth month in a row, with firms reporting delivery delays and disruption caused by the shutdown of Holyhead port in Wales after Storm Darragh in December. It’s due to partially reopen this week.