Strong services growth expected

Ireland’s services sector has shown the strongest growth in the last 16 months, especially in light of the recent U.S. economic recovery, according to the monthly Purchasing Managers’ Services Index, compiled by NCB Stockbrokers.

The Index rose from 50 in March to 60.8 in April, statistics showed.

“Rising incoming business has further extended the backlog of work as firms remain cautious about hiring and try to improve productivity to offset rising input costs,” said NCB senior economist Eunan King.

“An increase in prices charged by the technology businesses is an encouraging indicator of the strength of demand in a hard-hit sector.”

NCB said that growth was at its strongest since November 2000.