New Banking Legislation and the Continuous Housing Problem

The central issue for Mr Bossano was the newly implemented legislation on banking which made it easier for banks to attain a licence – a measure which he supported. The issue however was not the introduction of legislation itself but the direction in which this legislation was to lead Gibraltar. He feared the establishment of Gibraltar as a tax haven.

Despite earlier fears of the UK’s decision to terminate the development aid, this policy survived into 1986. The issue was no longer whether development would be issued, but to what type of projects it would be issued to. Thus far, the policy had been to issue an equal amount of aid in housing projects regardless of whether it was “low paid housing” or luxury developments. Whilst at the time, the construction of any housing development was a move in the right direction, it did not solve Gibraltar’s growing housing problems for the average Gibraltarian worker.