International trade cornerstone of economic prosperity

Growing our private sector through increased levels of export sales is vital to delivering a more prosperous Northern Ireland.

That was one of the conclusions of the latest Quarterly Economic Review published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) today.

The review indicates a broadly positive outlook for the Northern Ireland economy and also examines the importance of international trade. It concludes that greater levels of international trade will help meet the challenges faced by the economy in terms of boosting productivity and growing the private sector.

Commenting on the review, the Economy Minister, Nigel Dodds said: “While the Northern Ireland economy continues to perform well, a number of key challenges remain.

“Northern Ireland has a long history of selling its output to the rest of the world and international trade can help address the key economic challenges of boosting productivity and growing employment.

“This report illustrates the importance of exports to our manufacturing sector and highlights the need to develop a strong and competitive export base from our growing tradable services sector.”

He continued: “Invest NI administer the Passport to Export programme through which we continue to develop a competitive export base and I would encourage all companies to avail of the opportunities that the programme offers.”

The Minister also reiterated the importance of securing access to a competitive rate of corporation tax as part of the ongoing review into tax policy led by Sir David Varney. Mr Dodds said: “A competitive rate of corporation tax would help increase the flow of value added Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and boost the levels of exports, economic prosperity and growth.”

The review contains the latest statistics for the global, UK, RoI and NI economies and draws together a number of independent commentaries to provide a concise summary of the current economic climate.

This edition can be accessed at http://www.detini.gov.uk/cgi-bin/moreutil?utilid=820 or by contacting economics@detini.gov.uk or 028 9052 9513.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1.For media enquiries please contact Lesley Dempster in the DETI Press Office, telephone 028 9052 9297 or 07866 847919.

2.Outside office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.