Since our last issue of CRA Magazine, the credit crunch which originated in the United States at the beginning of last year has evolved into a crisis of global proportions, triggering massive government bailouts and a dramatic slump in the financial markets.

The consequent loss of confidence and trust in the financial system as a whole has engendered unprecedented uncertainty among investors who have been left clutching at straws with no place to hide.

At a macro level, the world economy is expected to contract for the first time in 50 years, although emerging markets are forecast to continue to grow at an average of about just over half of last year’s pace. At the same time, many analysts believe there is more bad news to come, further dampening investors’ enthusiasm.

You are therefore left with a difficult question to answer as we head into 2009: Is the poisoned chalice half full or is it half empty? I sincerely hope that your chalice is at least half full.

In this issue Barry Allan highlights the credit crisis. He looks at how we have passed through the first two phases of the crisis and calculates the length and depth of phase three.

On the tax front, Ernie Nagratha highlights some of the rules that Canadian expatriates will have to deal with if they are non-residents of Canada, as well as some of the administrative changes that the Canada Revenue Agency has made in assessing tax filers.

Patrick Holmes looks at the virtues of much maligned offshore financial centres and argues that they serve a useful purpose for both individuals and corporations. In fact, he suggests that in many cases their regulatory and compliance regime are as good as or better than that of many developed countries which are the primary critics of these jurisdictions.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy this issue. Should you wish to Contact us please send an email to info@cramagazine.com.

Dax Sukhraj
Publisher