"AA+ credit rating contradicts Guardian's bankruptcy story" – Maclean

Wednesday 09 December 2015

Thousands of people may have been reading about Jersey’s imminent bankruptcy in the Guardian yesterday – but Treasury Minister Alan Maclean says that their story was based on old data.

And he says that if the Island was really teetering on an economic precipice, an international rating agency would not have given it an “AA+” credit rating just weeks ago.

Yesterday’s article reported that the tourism industry has essentially collapsed, that the finance sector is declining and that there is no real desire to diversify the Island’s economy.

The writer quotes John Harris from the Jersey Financial Services Commission, States adviser Colin Powell and Assistant Chief Minister Philip Ozouf, as well as Unite official Nick Corbel, tax campaigners Richard Murphy and John Christensen among others.

The piece concludes: “Perhaps Jersey has bet so much on finance that it can no longer afford to stop increasing its stake. It will have to keep doubling its bet until the money runs out. If it cannot live forever from finance, it looks like it is going to die in the attempt.”

But Senator Maclean says that the piece has missed the point – particularly recent improvements in GVA, finance profits and employment statistics.

He also pointed out that while it was rightly reported that the Island faces a deficit, much of that is due to investment in health, education and other key services.

Senator Maclean said: “The Guardian has used a familiar line in articles in the past and its highly emotive language and it’s a lot of historic stuff.

“They do not appear to have taken into consideration the latest trends and data and in particular, the fact that it was only a matter of just a few weeks ago that we had our public finances and economy assessed by Standard and Poors who reaffirmed our rating of AA+ with a ‘stable outlook’.”

You can read yesterday’s Guardian piece here.