Presentation to Guild of Agri Journalists

What a difference a year makes. As you will see in this presentation – delivered to members of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists – there have been some big economic changes in the past year, and many of them have not favoured the agri-food industry. The presentation also touches on the latest Ulster Bank Ulster Fry Index, which you can read more about here.

NI business output growth at 16-month high

Infographic for the Ulster Bank NI PMI January 2016

Today sees the release of January data from the Ulster Bank Northern Ireland PMI®. The latest report – produced for Ulster Bank by Markit – pointed to faster rates of growth for output, new orders and employment in the Northern Ireland private sector, with activity increasing at the sharpest pace since September 2014. Meanwhile, the rate of cost inflation remained marked but firms were only able to increase their output prices at a marginal pace.

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Fastest rise in employment for 14 months

Graphic showing comparisons between the latest figures from the Northern Ireland PMI and pre=Credit Crunch averages

The latest Ulster Bank NI PMI has been released.

For those who don’t know, the PMI is a monthly survey of carefully selected companies. It provides an advance indication of what is happening in the private sector economy by tracking variables such as output, new orders, employment and prices.

Here are the main points:

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