The Stormont power-sharing executive has announced plans to spend £70 million pounds (€78.4 million) in a bid to counter the effects of the housing slump and falling export demand.
The government is freezing local council rates on businesses, which were due to increase with inflation, and will distribute £15 million pounds to help low-income families with their fuel bills, Finance Minister Nigel Dodds said today in a statement issued in Belfast.
"This level of spend represents a real and meaningful achievement of this executive in the most difficult of circumstances,"Mr Dodds said.
The Irish and British governments are already planning stimulus measures for their own economies in a bid to buffer them from the impact of the global financial crisis.
Attempts to tackle the economic slump had been stymied by political bickering that prevented the executive meeting for five months this year. The packages announced today include £20 million pounds for a farm nutrient management program, while the government also wants companies to bid for public building contracts worth as much as £115 million pounds.
Bloomberg
