Join the world’s 8th richest nation…the Isle of Man

IT IS only slightly larger than Hertfordshire, but the Isle of Man is ranked the eighth wealthiest nation per capita by the World Bank, and now it is boosting efforts to encourage entrepreneurs to relocate or partner businesses on the island.

The self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea has been growing its economy continuously for 30 years and is expected to increase by 3 per cent to 4 per cent this year.

A marketing campaign is being launched to attract business people to the island instead of rivals Jersey and Guernsey. John Shimmin, minister of economic development, said: ‘We are a very successful economy. We are a low tax, high service com- munity. We have been extremely successful and are on target to rebalance the budget and continue to grow the economy.

‘We have a very diverse economy. We have almost no unemployment [about 2.1 per cent]. But one of our biggest weaknesses is that we are not as well-known as some of our competing jurisdictions, which is why we are keen to promote our- selves beyond our shores. We are globally important in aircraft shipping and egaming and we would be seen as being in the vanguard of regulation.’

Mike Dee, chief executive of the island’s Manx Telecom, who has launched a data centre to host worldwide firms from the island, said: ‘People say the Isle of Man is a finance sector. That is now 30 per cent or less.’