The composite economic index from the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency said there had been 1.6% growth in the economy in the 12 months to the end of March 2015, NewsNow reported. That compared with a more robust growth rate of 3% in the UK–although growth in the first three months of 2015 appeared to be stronger here than the UK. On a sectoral level, there was growth of nearly 8% in construction, 3.6% in production at 1.7% in services. Public sector job numbers fell by 1.2% while there was private sector jobs growth of 2.5%.
