Dougie Peedle said that although the economy grew by five per cent in 2014 and that key economic indicators such as employment were pointing in the right direction, the global environment was now more uncertain than it had been for some time.
Commenting on the outlook for 2016 he said: ‘What we’re seeing now is strong growth in 2014, employment higher than it has ever been, unemployment has come down and average earnings are growing in real teams. That is a reasonably positive picture and confirmation of what we were forecasting 12 months ago.
‘But obviously we must factor in what’s happening outside the Island. The global position is fragile and that does have an impact on us. We are an export economy – financial services depend on exports and tourism depends on people’s ability to come and visit the Island and demands outside of our own economy.’
