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The Northern Ireland economy grew by 0.4% in the third quarter of 2018, the latest official figures suggest.

Manufacturing and construction were the main contributors to growth, with output increasing by 0.4 percentage points in each sector.

However services, the dominant sector of the economy, saw output contract by 0.3 percentage points.

The statistics are measured using the Northern Ireland Composite Economic Index (NICEI).

That is roughly equivalent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The NI economy grew in the third quarter, however services contracted by 0.3 percentage points

Annual growth - compared with the same quarter of 2017 - was 2.1%, compared with a UK GDP growth of 1.5%.

Northern Ireland has still not recovered all the output it lost in the last recession.

Output is still 4.6% below the peaks reached in the middle of 2007.