Deputy Gavin St Pier, President of the Policy & Resources Committee, updated the States Assembly this morning on the year-end financial position, comparing that public finances ended 2016 with a £15m surplus.
In June last year, a budget deficit of £10m to £15m was estimated for 2016. At that time, Deputy St Pier outlined a series of measures put in place to seek to balance the position by the end of the year. The measures included a series of expenditure controls put in place by States of Guernsey Chief Executive Paul Whitfield, including control of all vacancies; a review of overtime usage; closer control of the use of consultants; cancellation or deferral of non-pay expenditure; and the re-prioritisation of routine capital expenditure. The Policy & Resources Committee also announced its intention to limit any further use of the Budget Reserve in year, and that it had approached the States Trading Supervisory Board to request that it consider making a return of surplus capital to General Revenue in 2016.
The measures had the desired effect and had a material impact on the year-end position. In addition, an improvement in economic conditions has also contributed to a better outturn.
The net result is that, subject to final year-end adjustments and audit, the outturn for 2016 is a surplus in the region of £15m, representing a £30m improvement on the worst case set out in June.
Read the full statement given by the President of the Policy and Resources Committee, Deputy Gavin St Pier, by following the link in the 'useful pages' section on this page.
