The States of Guernsey’s 2020 accounts show an overall net impact of £83.9m, which is less than the £99.1m originally forecast in the 2021 budget.
Despite the actual damage being £15.2m less than predicted, it’s still an indicator of how devastating the pandemic has been for the island’s bank balance.
This figure in the 2020 accounts includes State-owned airline Aurigny’s losses, business support and revenue shortfalls as follows:
- £51.3m of business and personal support expenditure;
- £28.3m to cover Aurigny’s losses;
- £5.3m overdraft requirement for Guernsey Ports;
- £3.3m net revenue income shortfalls.
The final figure was offset by net expenditure being around £4m lower than budgeted.
In contrast, Jersey spent £190m on tackling the pandemic in 2020, including £582,000 for extra staff at the ITU, £3.3m for health staff PPE, and £10.8m for a Nightingale hospital.
However, the largest chunk of expenditure (£120m) was to help local businesses stay afloat.
The Co-Funded Payroll Scheme was the largest source of expenditure with £97.9m. Between March and August 2020 alone, Jersey’s Government helped a total of 67,137 islanders, costing £80,981,348.32. Its peak month was April, with 16,500 employees receiving payments of £21.5m.