Policy background Regional rates
The Act sets regional rates for domestic and non-domestic property for the 2018-19 rating year. It did so by stipulating a regional rate for domestic and non-domestic property, expressed in terms of "pence per pound of rateable value". The figures in the Act represent an inflationary increase in the non-domestic regional rate (based on a 1.5% GDP deflator) and an increase of inflation plus 3% in the domestic regional rate (i.e. a 4.5% increase). These were set out in the Secretary of State’s Written Statement to Parliament on Northern Ireland finances on 8 March 2018,1 and represented an important source of revenue underpinning the 2018-19 budget in Northern Ireland.
	Regional rates are normally set by an order subject to the affirmative resolution procedure in the Assembly and made under Article 7 of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977. It was necessary to proceed by means of primary legislation at Westminster because, in the continued absence of an Executive, these rates could not otherwise be set. The regional rates for 2017-18 were set in the same manner by the Northern Ireland (Ministerial Appointments and Regional Rates) Act 2017.