Call for Isle of Man to shed complacency

Date: 18th June 2008

The Isle of Man has been urged to end its period of financial "complacency".

According to Allan Bell, treasury minister for the Isle of Man, the Crown dependency will only be able to tackle a number of serious challenges if it is able to end the current period of financial complacency, reports Isle of Man Today.

One of the threats noted is an expected shortfall in VAT revenues from the UK.

"For the first time in a great many years the UK are indicating that they are expecting a fairly substantial downturn in their expectation of VAT revenues being raised in the UK," said Mr Bell.

"Because of the Common Purse Agreement we have with them our share of the pool will reduce regardless of how well the Isle of Man economy is doing."

Mr Bell made his comments during an address at the Chamber of Commerce's annual lunch.

The Isle of Man is not a member of either the UK or the European Union.