THE Isle of Man's economy will be the "absolute top priority" for the new government according to the Island's Chief Minister.
Ramsey MHK Allan Bell has said the economy will be at the "forefront" of government's agenda going forward.
He said: "The economy has to be the absolute top priority and I have already taken steps to initiate an enhanced central coordination of economic development.
"Not withstanding the fact the Isle of Man economy is still reasonably buoyant we have to be very conscious of the huge pressures which are building up through Europe and the possibility the United Kingdom could go into a double dip recession and problems with the United States economy.
"Although directly these don't necessarily impinge on the Isle of Man, indirectly they do. We have to be as prepared as we possibly can be to keep the Isle of Man's economy stable and therefore the economy will be very much at the forefront of my thinking."
Mr Bell said growing the economy is important in order to generate extra revenue to offset the repercussions of the revised VAT Revenue Sharing Arrangement which was signed in July.
He continued: "We will lose, in a couple of year's time, roughly a third of our income. That's not going to be easily absorbed no matter how we try to struggle with the current expenditure levels.
"It doesn't necessarily mean we have to diminish the quality of service we provide but it might mean we have to provide it in a different way than what people are used to.
"We have made good progress for the first couple of years in rebalancing government’s budgets but those in many ways were the easy decisions to be made. The more difficult decisions will have to be made over the next couple of years in terms of downsizing government, reviewing the way we deliver public services and everything that flows from that.
"The other area of course is the urgent need to keep the economy growing – to look for new opportunities, to create more jobs. That is the best approach I think we have to maintaining people's standard of living and in particular to give our young people hope for the future.
"The youth unemployment, whilst not a major problem at the moment, is progressively getting worse and we need to be able to assure them that we are conscious of the problems that they are facing and are doing our best to provide work for them and at the same time guarantee their standard of living and at the same time their certainty in the Island.
"It's going to be a real challenge for me personally and it's going to be a challenge for my ministerial colleagues and for the Members of Tynwald.
"I think to be fair the public, by and large, are expecting us to make those difficult decisions – they will be disappointed if we shirk them and find a way of skirting around them.
"They are looking for strong leadership in these areas and it's now down to Tynwald and myself to make those decisions which I hope will be in the best interests, long-term, of the Island."
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