Cayman Financial Secretary closes Budget Debate
On May 23, 2008, Financial Secretary for the Cayman Islands, Kenneth Jefferson, brought the budget debate to a close in the House. He announced that the predicted USD 528.2 million revenue for the coming financial year is a 1% increase over the latest sum predicted for the fiscal year ending on June 30.
Jefferson explained that this rate is “even more conservative than the 1.7% real GDP growth forecast for the Cayman Islands for the 2008 calendar year, and the 1.4% real GDP growth forecast for calendar year 2009″.
The Financial Secretary noted that that the operating and interest expense for 2008/2009 is believed to total at USD 514.7 million. If to subtract this expense from forecast revenue, the resulting operating surplus for 2008/2009 accounts for USD 13.5 million.
To count the expected revenue for the coming year, the Portfolio of Finance and Economics considered data from the three institutions: Economics Statistics Office, Treasury Department, and the Department of Tourism.
In the current financial year, major revenue streams show that some USD 120 million, which is 23%, was derived from financial services, in the form of fees collected by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) and the General Registry.