The Chamber of Commerce has given its backing to Government's plans to bring in a new 'economy guru' from outside to keep Bermuda's thriving economy in check.

Chamber president Phil Barnett said, in general, it supported the idea despite some division of opinion whether a booming economy is a good or a bad thing.

Meanwhile, The Ministry of Finance said it was not directly responsible for the international expert, but would be working with the Premier's office on the matter.

"I think that to be honest he is doing the right thing there," said Mr. Barnett.

"There is a general consensus that the economy is booming - there are individuals within the Chamber that have completely different opinions as well - some people think it is overheating and some people's businesses have been doing better than before and they think that it has been doing fine."

But Mr. Barnett welcomed the concept of getting someone in from outside to look at the state of the country's economy to supplement those already working on it and offer a second opinion.

"But I think we have got some very bright individuals on the Island and to get in an overseas person might help us towards what is the right path forward for Bermuda," he said. "Because it will do us no favours if its in danger of overheating and then crashes."

He said the Chamber was open to anyone's input on the idea but called on Government to consult them before putting it into practice.

"We would welcome everybody's opinions on it and we would like to make sure any consultation process includes us because there are a lot of projects out there waiting to get off the ground," he said.

"I think maybe this outside person may come in and say we need to do this and that, but it is not necessarily regimented, but anything can get out of control and we need to make sure the economy is sustainable going forward.

"We need to ensure new people setting up small businesses have opportunities and they need to make sure that there is an equal footing so that people with a legitimate business who want to take it forward are allowed to."

Yesterday The Royal Gazette reported that the Premier had called in an international expert to cool down the nation's economy, believed to be charged with the task of drawing up priorities and a timeline to slow down the rate of growth, which could include everything from introducing higher interest rates to less Government spending and a slowdown in the property market, according to local economist Craig Simmons, a lecturer in economics at Bermuda College.

Bermuda's 3.6 percent inflation rate, up from 3.1 percent last year, does not compare favourably with the likes of the US (two percent), UK (2.9 percent) and the EU (2.7 percent) and it is middle ranking among other off-shore financial centres such as the Cayman Islands (seven percent), Ireland (3.4 percent), the Isle of Man (three percent), Singapore (2.9 percent), Gibraltar (2.6 percent) and Hong Kong (1.6 percent).