AQW 9738/22-27

Mr Daniel McCrossan
Social Democratic and Labour Party
West Tyrone

Tabled Date: 09/04/2024
Answered On Date: 23/04/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy for his assessment of the figures published by the NI Composite Economic Index, which states that the Northern Ireland economy is 5.6 per cent above its pre-pandemic position, whilst the Republic of Ireland's economy is 20.5 per cent above its pre-pandemic position.

Answer:

The NI Statistics and Research Agency, (who publish NICEI) state that these figures should not be considered as precisely like-for-like. They note that the South’s GDP data (which is the basis of the 20.5% figure) has been volatile over recent years, with the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlighting the impacts that globalisation and the activities of multinational enterprises have had on Ireland’s GDP figures.