BVI 2005 Budget Delivered

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

16 December 2004

Delivering his 2005 Budget recently, the British Virgin Islands' Minister of Finance, Ronnie W. Skelton predicted economic growth for the jurisdiction of between 2% and 2.5%.

Explaining that revenue in the region of $213,200,000 is expected, he announced that $185,274,900 has been set aside to cover recurrent expenditure.

The Finance Minister revealed that the BVI's foreign debt stabds at $50,000,000, with domestic debt having reached the level of $40,000,000.

Consequently, according to the Island Sun, he stated that the government "will only undertake further borrowing after vigorous examination and careful study. Every dollar borrowed must be dedicated towards projects that are judged to be of clear and demonstrable benefit to the people of the territory, economically viable and as far as possible self-liquidating".

Mr Skelton also announced that the government hopes to encourage private saving for health and education by providing a tax break, whereby individuals and businesses can set aside as much as 15% of their earnings per year, deferring their tax liability on the assets that are being saved.

A comprehensive report in our Intelligence Report series giving background tax and residence information on many of the key offshore jurisdictions is available in the Lowtax Library at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/subs_reports.asp and a description of the report can be seen at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/description_report4.asp

 

 






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