Financial Review – April 2010

GOVERNMENT BUDGET RISES TO CHALLENGE OF REVENUE SHORTFALL

In his last budget before moving to head up the new Department for Economic Development, Treasury Minister Allan Bell MHK showed the Isle of Man Government had risen to the challenge of its revenue shortfall, and adapted to ensure the Island remains an attractive place to do business.

The Budget was prepared against a backdrop of the worst global economic situation seen in the past 60 years, and is positioned to allow the Island to compete strongly and to maintain the attractiveness of the Isle of Man to inward investment.

Minister Bell put forward a Budget for 'change' that combined lower public spending, limited increases in taxation and the strategic use of reserves. The Budget he set out was the first instalment of a five-year strategy to rebalance the Government's finances following the reduction in the Island's share of VAT income from its union with the UK.