Service providers facing escalating costs

COSTS facing Irish service providers continued to accelerate last month at the strongest rate since May 2001, according to the NCB Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for September, published yesterday.

High oil prices led to a rise in the cost of derivative items such as fuel and energy. In response to higher costs, service providers raised their average charges but the rate of increase in output prices remained well below the equivalent measure for input costs.

Overall, business across the services sector here remained buoyant in September with the business activity index posting a 61.8 level. While business growth showed a slight easing from August, when it was measured at 62.0 by the index; it has been above the neutral 50.0 level for 28 consecutive months.