Phil Barnett, president of the Chamber of Commerce and head of the Island Restaurant Group Ltd, believes the decline of the dollar is a double-edged sword for Bermuda's economy.

On the one hand it will have a big impact on the labour market and the level of worker employers are able to attract to the island, but on the other they have been able to take advantage of favourable costs when trading with the United States, according to Mr. Barnett.

"The value of the dollar is impacting from a labour point of view," he said. "The fact is is that employers employ 12,000 people on work permits in Bermuda and part of the reason we have been able to attract these individuals is because of the relative value of working in Bermuda compared to working in their own countries.

"With the dollar falling in value to two specific currencies, the euro and the Canadian dollar, its impact, from what I have heard from our members, has affected our ability to recruit because it is not nearly as beneficial to be in Bermuda as it was and the issues of housing and work permits have also had an impact."

Mr. Barnett reckons the drop in value of the dollar is forcing employers to look further afield than places such as Canada, to the likes of India and China for their labour.

"We have to go further abroad to get individuals that see Bermuda as a viable place to work," he said.

But on the flip-side he believes the weakness of the dollar will boost Bermuda's buying power in America.

"We import a lot of goods from the US, so we are seeing an increase in buying power and because the prices are a lot more reasonable its gives us an opportunity to maximise that side of things," he said. From the perspective of a restaurateur, Mr. Barnett is also experiencing mixed fortunes, with the cost of European goods rising and yet being able to get more value for money from the American market.

"In the restaurant trade the European wines have increased dramatically in price, but now when you look at the Californian wines they are much more reasonable in price," he said.

"But it is impacting on other fronts as well. A lot of goods are coming from North America and we need to be more creative and make sure we source as much as we can from the US.

"Additionally we generate a lot of our power from diesel and oil, which comes from abroad and electricity bills are the highest in our business and the price of propane gas is astronomical at the moment."