Recession not evident in Guernsey

Guernsey's Treasury department says there is still no evidence of the island moving into a recession.

The announcement follows revelations that the amount of employees' tax paid in the first three months of 2009 rose compared with the same period in 2008.

According to the States' Treasury and Resources department, the total tax paid by individuals for the first quarter of 2009 was close to £40m.

The States said this figure was on track with the department's budget.

Deputy Charles Parkinson said that Guernsey seemed to be holding up "remarkably well" in the current global economic climate.

He added that while unemployment was up on 2008 and a number of redundancies had been announced, it appeared that staff were finding jobs quickly.

Early last autumn the department predicted that the Bailiwick was unlikely to experience a recession.

In its quarterly bulletin, the department said that the economy in Guernsey was in better health than the UK.