British Virgin Islands: Third District Representative Julian Fraser has said the BVI needs to get into offshore banking, the BVInews.com reported.
Making his presentation to the 2012 budget debate, Fraser said: “I don’t understand our reluctance in getting into offshore banking but for the longest time places like the Cayman Islands and Bermuda have been flourishing in that sector.”
According o the BVInews.com report he added: “We have had a lot of luxuries over the years. We have been marketing the BVI as a niche market and we have been targeting a certain set of people to come here as visitors. We have been marketing the BVI Financial Services in the safe areas in company registrations and mutual funds; whatever shortcomings these banks may have, we have to deal with them, but we need to reach out…You telling me that between the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, if those two countries are close to 1.15 trillion US dollars in debt, what make them any better than us for banks in our territory to be hosting that debt. So when we start thinking about growing our economy, raising revenue, penny here, penny there, fill a basket, but these pennies are not going to fill the size basket we have.”
The BVInews.com report said that he continued: “Imagine our population is between 27,000 to 30,000 people, and you talk about struggling to sustain it as far as employment is concerned. The only way you are going to sustain that Madame Speaker is to grow the economy, and I am hoping that this government would not be afraid to do it. Take the risk if there is one because cutting the budget in order to make up isn’t going to cut it for too long.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.