Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce broadly welcomes the Budget, describing it is a safe and solid set of measures that are appropriate in the context of economic uncertainties created by the global pandemic.
But Chamber does have some concerns about predictions regarding the island’s economic recovery.
Looking at the Budget in more detail, a Chamber spokesman said: ‘It was always going to be a difficult Budget against the backdrop of the recent and continuing Covid-19 challenges, and the lack of certainty about the future which makes predictions so much harder.
‘The Treasury Minister’s ‘Budget of resilience’ reflects that by focusing on stability. It is pleasing to see no tax rises, although the lack of changes to allowances in real terms means that slightly more tax revenue will be received by Government.
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‘That’s understandable in the context of the cost of the pandemic – over £100million of direct costs, rising to an estimated sum of more than £200million when factoring in loss of income and other matters.
‘Against this backdrop the Treasury Minister is predicting full recovery by 2023/2024 which, if it is achieved, would be one of the best economic recovery rates anywhere in the world.
‘It’s an ambitious target, and Chamber and all of our members hope that it is achieved, but we do question whether it is feasible.
‘We welcome the support provided for the Economic Recovery Group, but have concerns about whether the measures announced go far enough, or will be implemented fast enough, especially when considering the ambitious targets that have been set for full recovery within two to three years.
‘It was good to see restraint in public sector pay with a 1% Budget increase, but many of our members will note that this is in contrast to the private sector where many are seeing pay rises at lower levels.
‘Support for the National Insurance Holiday scheme continues, which is good because many sectors have skills gaps – but on the other hand we question whether more could have been done to promote retraining for those sectors which are experiencing redundancies.
‘Having said all that, overall we consider the Budget to be a good, solid response at time of global instability and uncertainty.’