Business leaders in Northern Ireland have been expressing their concerns following the latest rise in interest rates, announced last week by the Bank of England.

The local chairman of the Insitute of Directors, Alan McClure, said that the quarter per cent increase would be particularly damaging to the manufacturing sector. The Northern Ireland chairman of the Confederation of British Industry, Bill Tosh, said that the rise to 7 per cent would inevitably result in a further strengthening of sterling on the foreign exchange.