JERSEY’S economic recovery from the pandemic is ‘well ahead’ of the game and the government has done ‘as much as it can’ to see businesses through the difficult winter months, according to the Treasury Minister.
Deputy Susie Pinel’s comments came during a hearing of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel yesterday in which she said that recent indicators, such as hotel and travel bookings, suggested the economy was heading in the right direction after the slowdown caused by Covid-19.
Panel member Deputy Steve Ahier asked her what policies she intended to introduce to boost ‘consumer confidence and encourage increased economic activity’, once the government support for struggling businesses was withdrawn.
Deputy Pinel said that she believed that a recovery was already under way.
‘I think that’s already started, actually. The economic recovery is well ahead of its game. Hoteliers are saying that they’re fully booked,’ she said.
‘The chief executive of Ports of Jersey was saying that the transport to and from the UK and from France is gearing up. It’s not fully booked, but certainly increased in bookings.
‘On a positive note, I think that it’s seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and we’ve done as much as we can to see people through the difficult winter months, which are always difficult anyway when you’re in an island that’s fairly reliant on hospitality and incoming/outgoing transport.
‘Hopefully by the end of March or April, we’ll be, I wouldn’t say back to normal, but certainly [will have seen] a big improvement.’
