GUERNSEY is the sixth richest place in the world. A 14-page Economist report on offshore finance centres puts the island above the likes of Jersey, the United States and Hong Kong.

The report cites the island’s booming finance industry and tax breaks as reasons for its wealth.

‘On average, the citizens of Cayman, Jersey, Guernsey and the BVI are richer than those in most of Europe, Canada and Japan,’ wrote author Joanne Ramos.

‘What they (OFCs) offer foreign businesses and well-heeled individuals is low or no taxes, political stability, business-friendly regulation and laws and, above all, discretion.’

The Economist has a readership of more than four million, including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.

GuernseyFinance chief executive Peter Niven was delighted with the report.

‘Overall, the report paints a positive picture of Guernsey as an international finance centre,’ he said.

‘It does so by recognising that the island’s finance industry is built not just on a competitive tax structure but also a wider business-friendly environment.

‘Ultimately it is a well regulated jurisdiction endorsed by the likes of the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Task Force to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.’

He added that much work was going into promoting the island as a world-class finance centre.

‘Coverage like this, in such a prominent publication, can only assist in this process,’ he said.

The report also included supporting statements from academics such as Mihi Desai of Harvard and British lawyer Richard Hay.

Ms Ramos concluded that broader international concern over OFCs was overblown.

‘Well run jurisdictions of all sorts, whether nominally on- or offshore, are good for the global financial system.’