BBC Northern Ireland's business editor, James Kerr, looks back at 1999, a year of transition economically as well as politically.

For the first time in a generation a local politician has control of the economy portfolio. Sir Reg Empey's appointment to the position was widely welcomed.

He inherits an economy in better health than perhaps at any point in the past - the number of people out of work is at its lowest for two decades, the number in work at its highest point ever.

But those statistics hide the fact that it has been a year of mixed fortunes for individual businesses and industrial sectors; that process of transition has meant unprecedented growth in some areas, but in others considerable pain.

'Big name' closed doors

One of the biggest names in Northern Ireland industry will not see in the new millennium.

After 150 years in business, Mackies closed its doors, while for a time it looked like the Harland and Wolff shipyard might suffer a similar fate following a row with its biggest customer and a cash crisis.

Another big engineering name, Powerscreen of Dungannon, also found itself embroiled in its own cash crisis.

It was taken over following a major management shake-up.

The province's textiles industry also remained under considerable pressure.

The decision by Marks and Spencer to cancel its contract with William Baird Ltd, which employs 500 people in Northern Ireland factories, was the highest profile casualty of an increasingly difficult sector.

All sections of industry found themselves facing a common problem; at the end of the year the pound was trading at near record highs against the Euro currencies, a situation that few expect to improve materially in the short term.

On the positive side, the improving political situation has helped contribute to record levels of investment, both in the property market and in terms of inward investment.

The biggest number of new jobs are to be created by the Halifax, one of a number of call centre investments to be announced during the year.

Perhaps more significantly the region has started to win important software projects. It is a sector that shows considerable further potential.

The new year begins with new political structures beginning to bed down.

One of the main challenges for the economy minister is to set an imaginative agenda in the programme for government, while the new Implementation Body will look to give an all-island dyamic to economic development that has been impossible in the past.