NI Composite Economic Index: Q2-2017

Date published: 26 October 2017

The NICEI is an experimental quarterly measure of the performance of the NI economy based on available official statistics.

Key points

• The Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index (NICEI) results show that NI economic activity was estimated to have decreased by 1.0% from Quarter 1 (January – March) to Quarter 2 (April – June) in real terms. The index increased by 0.5% in real terms between Quarter 2 2016 and Quarter 2 2017.
• Over the last two years annual output (averaged over the four quarters to Quarter 2 2017 compared to the previous four quarters) increased by 1.7%. Although the measures are not produced on a fully equivalent basis, comparisons with the UK over the same period show that the NICEI grew at a similar rate (1.7%) compared to UK GDP1 growth (1.7%). In the UK quarterly growth (0.3%) was higher than that recorded for NI (-1.0%).
• The NI private sector index was estimated to have decreased by 1.2% over the quarter but increased by 0.7% over the year to Quarter 2 2017.
• The Public sector jobs index decreased by 0.3% over the quarter and also decreased by 0.3% over the year to Quarter 2 2017.
• Full publication available here