30 January 2015
The Treasury and Resources Minister Senator Alan Maclean has welcomed the first pre-Medium Term Financial Plan report issued by the Fiscal Policy Panel (FPP).
The report is designed to help Jersey’s government to develop the MTFP for 2016 to 2019. Senator Maclean said that the thorough economic analysis contained in the report would be vital in developing the plan which would support the Council of Ministers Strategic Priorities for its coming term of office. The FPP will present a further report in July commenting on the draft MTFP ahead of the States debate in September.
Capital investment
“It is helpful that the panel’s findings confirm our position that economic growth and productivity, identified as a strategic priority by this Council of Ministers, will be key to sustained recovery and that the plans which are already in place for capital investment should be an important part of the MTFP.
“The Panel’s advice and findings also confirm the need for fiscal prudence and to find sustainable ways to address the risk of any structural deficit. The Council of Ministers has already recognised this and its early discussions on this MTFP focused on the need for a sustainable and balanced position to be reached by 2019,” said Senator Maclean.
He said that the panel had made encouraging comments about the Island economy’s return to growth in 2014 and the expectation that this would continue over the next few years.
Careful fiscal planning
“We will continue to face challenges, not least because the global economic climate remains volatile, but the healthy balance sheet Jersey has maintained as a result of the careful fiscal planning of recent years means that we will be doing so from a position of strength,” he said.
The Treasury and Resources Department officers will update the forward forecasts of income and expenditure based on these revised economic assumptions and discuss these with the Council of Ministers in March, ahead of developing final proposals to be lodged in the draft MTFP at the end of June.
The Fiscal Policy Panel (FPP) was put on a statutory basis last year and is now required to report before each new MTFP. The FPP is an advisory body that aims to help the States improve how its sets fiscal policy. It advises the States on the key issues regarding economic conditions.
After consulting with the Council of Ministers, the Treasury and Resources Minister will provide a more comprehensive response to the FPP’s report and recommendations in due course.
Download the Fiscal Policy Panel pre-MTFP report 2015 (size 1.35mb)
Fiscal Policy Panel
gov.je