THE government has reduced its funding to an organisation that promotes Jersey as an international financial centre by £400,000 as part of wider budget cuts, the External Relations Minister has confirmed.
Deputy Ian Gorst, who has responsibility for financial services, was addressing a Scrutiny panel looking into the proposed government Budget for 2025 to 2028.
He said savings of £700,000 would need to be found within his portfolio.
The bulk of this (£400,000) would, he told the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel, be taken from Jersey Finance’s budget for 2025.
The arms’-length organisation, which promotes the Island as an international financial centre, is heavily funded by the government. Last year, a £6.4 million government grant made up 83% of its total funding, according to its annual report, with the rest coming from local finance firms.
Deputy Gorst said he had fought to protect the grant but had ultimately had to compromise as part of broader cost-saving measures.
“The only area that I fought for but ended up in a compromised position was the grant to Jersey Finance,” he said.
Deputy Gorst also revealed that the department had implemented a 20% cut in projected growth figures, including pay awards.
Other savings include not renewing contracts for two fixed-term contractors in the Financial Crime Strategy Team, following the “successful completion” of the Moneyval assessment of Jersey’s compliance with international financial crime standards.
There have also been reductions to the funding of Jersey’s Brussels office owing to internal restructuring.
Further restructuring within the department has merged the financial services and financial crime policy teams, resulting in fewer staff, the panel heard.
The cuts to Jersey Finance form part of a broader drive to reduce non-frontline government spending under Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, who has repeatedly talked about “curbing” spending in the public sector and “resizing” the Cabinet Office since he stepped into the top job earlier this year.
