St Kitts Citizenship by Investment (CBI) revenues reached a new high of XCD 271m (US$100m) during the first six months of 2019, according to the latest Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) mid year report.
The CBI revenues almost doubled, compared to the same period last year was XCD 154m ($56m)
The Real GDP of St Kitts and Nevis grew only by 2.4% in 2018, despite high CBI revenues. This is only moderate growth, as Anguilla and Antigua attained the highest GDP growth in 2018.
Stronger activity in wholesale and retail trade was roughly balanced by a dip in construction activity, although major public infrastructure developments continued on both islands. It is estimated that growth will be 2.8% in 2019, slightly below the 3.0% growth rate previously projected.
Two major luxury hotel developments that should have started in the last quarter of 2018 were delayed, and no new start dates have been announced, said CDB report.
The CDB report further said small economies likely to be affected because of increasing global economic uncertainties, such as trade tensions between the United States of America and China and uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit, along with US sanctions on global supply chains.
St Kitts and Nevis (SKN) is not the only country benefiting from the CBI program. There are other four countries (DOM, GRE, ANT, SLU) also running similar CBI schemes. Dominica recently emerged as a successful citizenship by investment scheme in the Caribbean, with 52% of the revenues for the country come from citizenship for sale scheme.
