Nearly 11,000 jobs have been promoted across Northern Ireland and over £1bn of investment secured by Invest NI over the past year, according to the body.

Invest NI also said almost 18,000 jobs have been created over the last three years as a result of its support.

Figures released by Invest NI show that over the year it has supported wages and salaries of £190m and provided support to nearly 3,000 businesses, up 15% on last year.

Speaking about the new reporting, Chief Executive Alastair Hamilton said: "Historically Invest NI has reported on jobs promoted – the number of jobs a company expects to create as a result of a new project. This has been in line with the targets set for us by the NI Executive as part of the Programme for Government.

"Back in 2011 I briefed the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee about our plans to introduce new systems to enable us to measure outputs delivered as a result of our work. The most important of these measures was jobs created.

"We have now put in place processes to enable accurate reporting of the actual number of jobs created as a direct result of those projects which we have assisted. In doing so, Invest NI is the first development agency amongst those in the rest of the UK or the Republic of Ireland to report in this way across all its job support initiatives."

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster said: "Invest NI has recorded its best year end performance to date with these tremendously encouraging figures, which show that the total number of jobs promoted, businesses supported, salaries and investment planned are all at highest ever levels.

"Over £1bn of investment has been secured and 11,000 jobs promoted - this will have a real and positive impact on our local economy. A total of 5,249 offers of support have been made to businesses, with 94% to locally owned companies.

"These results, the latest in a line of positive indicators for the local economy, give confidence for the future. It is encouraging that businesses are beginning to see signs of recovery, that our local companies are continuing to broaden their horizons and that Northern Ireland continues to be an attractive location for globally mobile investment across a range of sectors. However, I remain absolutely focused on the future, determined to build further on the momentum achieved to date as we work through our Economic Strategy priorities."

(IT/CD)