THE government has unveiled further details about a £30 million package of investment in Jersey businesses.
This includes revitalising the Agricultural Loans Fund for the first time in over two decades with £10 million.
Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel said the Island “suffers from low levels of business investment” – less than half the UK level – and these new measures would “help stimulate the growth and improvement in productivity that we need”.
From April next year, the minimum wage will rise to £13 per hour as a stepping stone to setting it at two-thirds of the 2024 median wage in April 2026.
A £20 million “Better Business Support Package” for 2025 and 2026 will be proposed in the Budget and includes: a £2.3 million productivity grant, a £2 million skills grant, a £1.1 million rural and marine grant, a £1 million grant for increasing connectivity and £3 million to boost the tourism sector.
The application process to access these funds will be announced following States approval, with the schemes expected to be open to all employers early next year via Jersey Business.
Jersey Chamber of Commerce chief executive Murray Norton said Chamber had worked with the government on developing these measures to support businesses.
The Agricultural Loans Scheme, which has been dormant since 2003, has now been re-established and £10m allocated to it. Following unanimous approval by the States in 2023, applications for the first tranche of £3 million opened last Thursday and are available to help agricultural businesses make long-term investments.
The president of the Jersey Farmers’ Union, Douglas Richardson, said the measures “ensure we will continue to maintain a viable and sustainable farming sector as a vital part of Island life”.
Deputy Morel said: “Through these schemes, we are helping Jersey businesses to invest in themselves and their employees.
“Jersey suffers from low levels of business investment – less than half of the UK level, which itself is the lowest level of any G7 nation.
“To achieve our ambition of becoming a high-performing, environmentally sustainable and technologically advanced small island economy by 2040, we need to invest in change.
“We’re enabling Jersey businesses to access significant investment, and I’m confident that this will help stimulate the growth and improvement in productivity that we need.”
