A West Tyrone MLA has criticised Invest NI for not doing enough to address regional imbalance as the county saw just 14% of the jobs created in South Belfast in recent years.
Figured released by Economy Minister Gordon Lyons have shown that 103 jobs were created in West Tyrone with the support of the body from the beginning of 2020 until March 2021.
That was just 14% of the the 1472 jobs created in South Belfast in the same period, and the third lowest across Northern Ireland.
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It was announced earlier this year that an independent review of the economic development agency would take place to examine its "efficiency and effectiveness"
SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said there was "no sign" Invest NI were trying to address any regional imbalance in its job creation.
Mr McCrossan added: “These latest figures demonstrate the level of distortion in the North's economy.
“There is no sign that Invest NI is trying to distribute jobs to where they are most needed.
“This is contrary to the agreed policy, as confirmed by New Decade New Approach, for a balanced regional economy.”
“As the figures show, West Tyrone has the third lowest figure of the 18 constituencies here, just a fraction of the jobs created elsewhere.”
"The SDLP and I wants to see the ongoing review of Invest NI to emerge with a new policy remit, with job creation focused more on the areas such as West Tyrone that need it most."
A spokesperson for Invest NI told MyTyrone the accusations that it gives any preferential treatment to certain areas are 'unfounded'.
“Invest NI has repeatedly denied the unfounded accusations of preferential treatment or bias in Northern Ireland," the spokesperson said.
"It is a misperception that there is a specific allocation of support to any area or that we distribute jobs to one particular area.
"It doesn’t matter where a business is located, our support is demand led and if we can support, we will.
"In fact, 63% of the jobs we supported businesses to create, and 73% of the support offers we made in 2020/21, were to businesses outside Belfast.
“We will continue to work with local councils and stakeholders to help grow investment in the economy right across Northern Ireland.
"In the last five years, in the West Tyrone Parliamentary Constituency area this work has resulted in 763 new jobs and £97m of investment, with companies such as Fabplus, Naturelle, Houston Engineering and O’Neill’s.”
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