On Air Saturday Breakfast Kim Quine | 6:00am - 8:30am

GDP growth masks mass economic shift

Further decline in traditional industry

Figures show the Island's economy continued to grow last year - but its structure is changing at an unprecedented rate.

GDP reached £4.51 billion in 2014/15, based on a five per cent rate of overall growth for that period.

Thirty-two years of successive growth - that's the headline figure from the latest National Accounts report, released this week by the Cabinet Office.

Look beyond the bold numbers and you'll see that boils down to a radical shift in the Island's economic composition.

e-Gaming has grown by a startling 22 per cent, now representing just short of a fifth of the whole economy.

That's followed closely by the insurance sector, which grew to 14.9 per cent of income in the period.

But it's a different story for our traditional industries - agriculture shrank by 21 per cent, manufacturing is down 19 per cent, and transport and communications contracted by a quarter.

But it seems like good news for tourism - which has cut recent losses to create a 79 per cent surge in growth since 2013.

The Chief Minister is cautiously optimistic - calling the figures 'reassuring' but pointing out the harsh reality of a now 'two-speed' modern economy.

More from Isle of Man News