GSLP-Liberals-Manifesto-2019

After 1996, under a GSD Government,
the GDC became a labour supply
organisation alongside the Civil
Service. Now, immediately after
forming Government, the role of the
GDC as the vehicle for the delivery
of the Post Brexit Economy will be
set into motion by the Ministry for
Economic Development, as it was pre
1996. The contribution of the GDC
subsidiary companies and joint venture
will enable mobilisation of resources to
deliver the Post Brexit Economic Plan.
The objective is to promote during the
course of the 4 year term economic
activity that will provide employment,
economic growth and Government
revenue in order to ensure the
sustaining of the existing level of public
services and protect the delivery of
such services from the potential for
a reduction in Government revenue
arising from the Post Brexit situation
and the slowdown in the European,
UK and global economy which is the
background against which the Post
Brexit National Economic Plan has
been devised.
We are very confident that with the
contacts we have already established
there will be substantial investment
attracted to Gibraltar by the availability
of the increased land bank resulting
from the reclamation process.
THE GIBRALTAR SAVINGS BANK
The target level of the reserves for the
GSB in the 2015 manifesto was put at
£70m and is unlikely to be achieved
given that interest rates have not risen
as anticipated in the past four years. It
is, nonetheless, probable that by March
2020 the figure will be around £55m –
which is still a record figure and £55m
more than we inherited from the GSD!
With the new economic plan for this
4 year term the target will be to reach
£100m by March 2024. The extent
to which this is achieved will depend
on the level of investments in the Post
Brexit National Economic Plan and the
level of profits which are generated
that are likely to be realised in the
second half of the 4 year term of the
Government.
The support from the GSB for the
investment projects in the development
plan will be in keeping with the GSB
priority of reinvesting deposits to
promote Gibraltar’s economic growth
that is its role as a development bank. In
keeping with the priorities of the GSB
Act, investing in the Gibraltar economy
will also mean additional growth
in areas of employment generating
Government revenue.
GIBRALTAR COMMUNITY CARE
The second element of the Rainy Day
Fund is the reserve in the charity. This
was over £60m in 1996 where the
GSLP left it and the GSD took office.
Although a commitment to maintain
the reserves was given by the GSD both
in subsequent general elections and
in Parliament, the GSD Government
failed to keep up the reserves and
revealed, after our questioning in
2010, that it had done the opposite of
what it said and that it had recklessly
and deliberately run down the reserves
in order to discontinue the role of the
charity in 2011. The GSD ran down
the reserves by continuing to make
payments from the reserves, to meet
the quarterly household cost allowance
to resident pensioners, and stopping
...aspire to the best Gibraltar
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