DUBLIN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's service sector has kept growing at a high rate since the start of this year, according to a survey released here on Monday.

The January Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the country's service sector stood at 59.8, a level only next to December's record high of 60.4 in eight months, said the survey which is conducted by Investec Ireland, a leading specialist bank in the country.

The figure represented a growth in the Irish service sector for 65 successive months, said the survey which is based on some 450 companies in the Irish private service sector.

Increasing new business orders and improving economic conditions both at home and abroad are two major factors contributing to the strong growth of the Irish service sector, said the monthly conducted survey.

Technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) departments have spearheaded the growth of the country's service sector, it said, adding that the January growth rate of the TMT sector was the fastest since August last year.

Growing new orders have exercised a double-blade effect on the country's service sector as the survey showed that while they have boosted the sector's demand for employment, they have also led to an increase in the backlogs of work in the sector.

Most of the companies surveyed said that they have raised their staffing levels in order to cope with the increasing demand from clients.

The survey found the input costs of the service sector still remained high in January as it has been the case over the last few years. Higher prices for fuel, insurance, raw materials and labor are the main reasons behind this, it said.

To offset the soaring costs, most of the service suppliers raised their output prices in January, which helped the sector maintain a growth in profitability, said the survey.

The majority of the companies surveyed said they are optimistic about their businesses in the coming 12 months, which pushed the survey's optimism index up to a four-month high, said Philip O'Sullivan, the chief economist of Investec Ireland.

Service sector is a major driving force for the Irish economy, which reportedly contributed an estimated 60 percent to the country's GDP in 2017. Enditem