It looks as if the Isle of Man has escaped being put on the mooted G20 "tax haven" blacklist.

According to an article in the weekend Financial Times, this has been done by virtue of the 13 tax exchange agreements it has with countries such as Germany, the United States and the Scandinavian nations.

That puts the Island just clear of the threshold of twelve set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as a "good indicator for assessing progress".

The OECD has put out a statement saying the information it has supplied to G20 leaders was "factual in nature and implies no judgement" on its part.

On Mandate this morning Treasury Minister Allan Bell cautiously welcomed the news:

"It's most important not to get over confident on this because the tenor of the debate changes quite rapidly and it could well be that, although the signs are looking a little bit more promising at the moment, in a few days' time that might all change again.

"But certainly the indicators at the moment would show that perhaps we have done enough, as I've suspected, to ensure that the Isle of Man does not get included on any blacklist."