Outlook for manufacturing upbeat

Economists remain upbeat about the manufacturing sector after another strong month of growth.

Latest provisional CSO industrial production and turnover figures, published yesterday, show manufacturing production levels rose by 1.6% in May, on a monthly basis, and by as much as 4.9% when measured on a year-on-year basis.

This growth compared to a 1.3% monthly increase in April and a 2.2% annualised rise that month. The latest data also suggests May was the fourth month this year to show an annualised rise in production levels amongst manufacturing companies.