The Cayman Islands Ministry of Public Finance has reported that
the jurisdiction has retained its very high "Aa3" rating
from Moody's, one of the world's foremost financial rating
agencies. Cayman has held this status non-stop since
2000.
The Moody's report from December 2013 (available at www.gov.ky) notes
that the rating is based on the following Cayman
attributes:
- A very high per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the latest figure for which is US$55,075.
- A Debt-to-GDP ratio of 22.4% at the end of 2013, which is a comparatively low debt burden viewed against other rated jurisdictions.
- A high score for governance indicators along with its political connection to the UK.
- A very low susceptibility to Event Risk.
The Minister for Finance and Economic Development, Hon. Marco
Archer said: "The Government is very pleased with the high
rating for the Cayman Islands being maintained and, equally
important as the high rating itself, the outlook for the rating is
stable. This should encourage investors to have utmost confidence
in the Islands' future."
Last year, the OECD/G20 launched an initiative focusing on
bilateral agreements for the exchange of tax information on request
known as Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAS). Cayman's
response to global tax and transparency matters includes the
signing of 33 TIEAs, with negotiations either completed or underway
with a further 16 jurisdictions.
In November 2013 Cayman signed a FATCA-style intergovernmental
agreement (IGA) with the UK, and weeks later became the first
Overseas Territory to sign both a FATCA Model 1B intergovernmental
agreement (IGA), and a new TIEA to replace the original 2001
agreement, with the US. Earlier in 2013, the jurisdiction also
volunteered to join a G5 pilot on multilateral automatic exchange
of information.
Harneys has Cayman law experts at the partner and senior associate
levels in the Cayman Islands, Latin America, London, Cyprus, Africa
and Hong Kong providing direct, time-zone sensitive advice to
clients around the globe.
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