Business Month

NI business news: Business Month

Business Month – December 2011

Up and down

Up

Average weekly earnings in Northern Ireland rose 1.5% in the last year. Incomes are 20% below the UK average, but the trend is contrary to the UK as a whole – where earnings remained stable.

VAT in Ireland is to rise from 21% to 23% in [...]

NI business news: Business Month

Up
UK inflation rose to 5.2% in September, up from 4.5% in August.
China’s inflation rate has risen to 6.1%, having averaged 4.25% in recent years.
United States’ inflation rose to 3.9% in September, up from 3.8% in August.
Heating fuel costs have risen 49% since the onset of the financial crisis in August 2007.
UK unemployment rose to [...]

Inactive unemployment: Business Month

Northern Ireland’s latest unemployment figures are very worrying. An extra 500 people began claiming unemployment benefit in September. The unemployment rate here is now 7.6% - up from 7.0% a year ago, though still below the UK average of 8.1%

This may see reassuring, but it is not. Northern Ireland has a vast troop of [...]

Replacing crumbling infrastructure: Business Month

For several years, the default position for major public infrastructure projects in the UK has been the Private Finance Initiative. But the situation has abruptly changed in recent months, with the coalition government taking action on the public spending deficit and so reducing the build-up of future liabilities. Concerns about PFI have been added to [...]

Northern Ireland’s Corporation Tax challenge: Business Month

The argument over whether the Republic of Ireland should have raised its corporation tax rate as a condition for receiving European Union bail-out support shows just how important the tax rate is. France and Germany sought to push the rate up, regarding Ireland as competing unfairly for foreign direct investment.
Ireland, of course, won that tussle [...]

Gone missing - Northern Ireland’s capital budget: Business Month

Back in 2008, it all looked so promising. With a fanfare and all round delight, the 10 year Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland was published. It may not have promised the world, but it did apparently commit to enough infrastructure renewal to accelerate our economic growth and improve public services.

In all, £19.3bn was to [...]

Will Northern Ireland have its Big Society?: Business Month

Public sector administration and public service delivery are being reshaped – in Great Britain. But as the UK Government adopts radical policies to create a ‘Big Society’ in which charities are increasingly being contracted to deliver public services, is there any chance that a similar revolution will happen in Northern Ireland?

A UK government green [...]

Telecoms - NI’s surprising USP: Belfast Telegraph

Infrastructure is usually a barrier for Northern Ireland’s businesses that creates a competitive disadvantage. But with telecoms, Northern Ireland is actually moving ahead of the rest of the UK and most of Europe. Two major projects are giving Northern Ireland its strong position: the roll-out by BT of super-fast broadband; and Hibernian Atlantic’s Project Kelvin [...]

Mutualising water: Business Month

Northern Ireland Water has had a difficult time since it converted to a Government-owned company – GoCo – in 2007. It has been mired in a series of controversies: problems have included serious billing errors, bitter recriminations over its loss of two permanent and one interim chief executives and last December’s debacle over pipe bursts.
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Project Merlin shows little magic in Northern Ireland: Business Month

The main UK banks have reached agreement with the Treasury to increase lending to small and growing businesses – providing an extra 15% in loans, while also supporting the UK’s regional growth agenda. Very good news it might seem.

But just what is this likely to mean in practice for Northern Ireland? The fear is [...]