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For the past couple of years, Northern Ireland has been working towards an economic vision known as 10x. Launched in May 2021, 10x Economy set out an ambitious vision that would see the economy transform over the next decade. The problem with 10x over the past two years is that there was never any clear sense of what the actions were going to be to get us to an economy that is 10x bigger.

Grant Thornton's Chief Economist, Andrew Webb, dissects Belfast City Centre's challenges and unveils the Future City Centre Programme for revitalisation.

‘Sure it’s Christmas’ will no doubt be a frequently heard phrase over the next couple of weeks as the traditional season for over-indulgence ramps up. As we know, people have faced a massive cost of living crisis over the past 18 months so the question is what shape the consumer is in and will the tills ring?

Economics was afforded a place in the sun this past week as Ireland’s economic superstar, David McWilliams, delivered a keynote address at the IntertradeIreland Conference. I wasn’t able to be there as I had headed south to present the latest findings from the Dublin Economic Monitor that we in Grant Thornton produce on behalf of the four Dublin councils.

Economy watchers were reaching for the popcorn over the past week as estimates of 50% growth in our economic fortunes over the next decade were cited as the potential prize from the Windsor Framework. Understandably, such an upbeat prediction was given significant airtime, which sparked reaction and challenge by some in the academic community.

The economy has rolled from punch to punch over the last number of years, prompting a necessarily reactionary approach. 2023 has started with a similarly uncertain outlook.

As we are all very aware, inflation is currently running at exceptional high levels. In fact, current levels stand at 9.4%, their highest level since February 1982.

It is a classic cliché in business to get carried away on the big new shiny idea and then point at each other in a confused state with panicked refrains of ‘I thought you were doing that’ when the most obvious missing ingredient is pointed out.

We are all painfully aware of the current inflationary pressures, particularly when we see our energy bills.

Climate scientists are unambiguous about the need for rapid reductions in carbon emissions to meet the aim of limiting average levels of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Go For It programme, the free scheme that provides advice to would be entrepreneurs was recently celebrating having supported almost 9,000 entrepreneurs over the past four years.