To ask the Minister of Finance for his assessment of the effectiveness of the Northern Ireland Investment Fund.

Since its inception in 2017, the Investment Fund has made loans totalling almost £170 million, which in turn has leveraged a further £170 million in private sector investment. It has helped to finance projects across a range of sectors and localities. In doing so, the Fund has supported over 5,100 jobs, the development of 15.9 hectares of brownfield land and over 99,000 square metres of employment space. While I am keen that the Fund continues to do more to support projects that bring about economic and social regeneration, I believe that, to this point, it has been an effective vehicle for the deployment of Financial Transactions Capital to development projects.