The Chamber of Commerce in the Isle of Man says there’s no room for complacency after the recent Manx Budget, in this special business report.

We welcome the news that there are 73 new employers and 439 new taxpayers in the past year.

Chamber has been campaigning for some time regarding the need to increase the island’s working population, and these figures are encouraging.

It is no coincidence that there is also a greater surplus (£28million) now projected, and it’s positive to see that both personal allowances and benefits increasing.

However, there’s no room for complacency and government and the business community need to continue to accelerate the drive to bring both new businesses and people to the island.

It’s that goal which inspired us to create Business Connex, the recently launched concierge service (a joint initiative between Chamber and the Department for Enterprise) designed to support local businesses and entrepreneurs on the island, and to help businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals who have decided to relocate here.

steer

In general, Chamber believes that the Government is continuing to steer a steady course during an era in which the Isle of Man has faced unprecedented challenges, including the potential impact of Brexit and a heightened level of external scrutiny.

Moving on to specific details in the Budget, it’s understandable that some sections of the business community will always question whether the Treasury Minister has gone far enough in introducing measures to promote economic growth, but Chamber applauds several steps he announced including the widening of the remit of the Enterprise Development Scheme, with a total of £9million available.’

One of the biggest challenges facing Isle of Man businesses, is filling vacancies due to the very low levels of unemployment.

A really positive development therefore is the introduction of a National Insurance holiday scheme for employees (with employees being able to apply for a rebate on ni contributions of up to £4,000) who move to the island for work, and for Manx students who return to the island to work after completing their UK university courses.

It will provide an added incentive to come to the island to live and work and Chamber will watch with interest to see what impact this has.

We also welcome the scheme to support the parents of Manx students attending universities and higher education in the UK.

A ring-fenced sum of £1.5million is being allocated to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture for this purpose, and Chamber is looking forward to seeing the full details of how this funding is to be applied.

Chamber welcomes the announcement of the Business Improvement Scheme which will allow businesses to apply for a grant of up to £5,000 towards the cost of the transitions required for Brexit.

While we acknowledge the Isle of Man Government has limited influence on the negotiations between the EU and the UK regarding Brexit, the scheme is a practical measure that might be of significant help to smaller businesses.

Capital projects

The announcement of £479million in capital investment over the next five years is potentially good news for the island’s construction sector, though we do acknowledge some of this will be spent off island in Liverpool. We would urge a greater focus on delivery of the capital programme, noting that utilisation of the budget has been less than 50% over the past two years.

We welcome the news that this underspend is being carried forward along with Treasury’s announcement of a review of the key drivers for historic under-delivery and establishment of a ‘Plan B’ schedule of projects which can be quickly brought forward should there be slippage on other schemes.