To ask the Minister of Finance for his assessment of the benefits of a National Investment Bank for Northern Ireland, such as has been created recently in Scotland.

The Scottish National Investment Bank was only launched in November of this year and as it is in its early stages, it is too soon to make any proper assessment of it.

Although funded and structured differently, we have our own Northern Ireland Investment Fund (NIIF) here in the North which was launched in January 2018 and which provides debt funding for commercial property, regeneration and low carbon projects. A total of £100m in Financial Transactions Capital has been provided by the Executive for the Fund. The Executive have recently agreed to review the Investment Fund to examine whether it can consider a broader range of investment opportunities.

More broadly, the Executive will of course continue look strategically at how we support investment, and learning from others and drawing on any best practice will be an important part of that.