POLITICAL stalemate could set Northern Ireland business back years, the Centre for Competitiveness has said.
The organisation, which is chaired by former PwC managing partner Stephen Kingon and led by chief executive Bob Barbour, said the north risks being "condemned to an economic abyss" with "increased dependency on the continued subvention from Treasury".
The centre said it was issuing a wake-up call to politicians.
The centre has drawn up a wish list for politicians and is calling on them to review education cuts and wants Invest NI to have sufficient "weapons in its armoury" to at least maintain its results at attracting investment.
The centre wants a long term plan put in place to address competitiveness issues.
It wants a focus on ensuring that infrastructure is "fit for purpose, that connectivity is world class, that energy costs are competitive".
In an open letter to the north’s politicians, CforC said: “Time is of the essence in terms of addressing key economic issues and the onus is on our local politicians to resolve the current impasse, to maintain the local institutions, to develop a long term strategy to improve Northern Ireland's competitiveness and to negotiate for fiscal support to implement the strategy.
“Failure by our politicians to find a workable way forward in the short term will condemn Northern Ireland to an economic abyss and increase its dependency on the continued subvention from Treasury.
“In the current economic climate it is unlikely that the subvention will be sustained at its current level let alone be increased to meet further shortfalls in Northern Ireland's economic performance.
“In the light of the above Northern Ireland is facing a bleak future unless the politicians can break the current deadlock and grasp the economic nettle and plan a way ahead.”
