§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans she has to publish short-term and medium-term forecasts of the Northern Ireland economy to assist the private sector in its economic and forward investment planning. [63977]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThere are no plans to publish Government forecasts for the Northern Ireland economy. However, the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre—an independent research body—regularly publishes short-term and medium-term forecasts for the local economy. The Centre's most recent set of forecasts was published at the beginning of December 1998.