St Kitts CBI program continues to be significant contributor to government revenue

The St Kitts and Nevis Government has published the Estimates of the year 2018, adopted by the National Assembly in Dec 2017.

The report highlights the following about the citizenship program in St Kitts and Nevis.

• The Citizenship by Investment programme continues to be a significant contributor to government’s revenue. The programme has been revamped and rebranded. The new Case Management System has resulted in a significant reduction in processing time. This, in addition to the engagement of qualified and professional staff, has improved the image of the programme making it more competitive. In 2018 the reforms would continue with aggressive marketing of our Platinum Brand.
• The Citizenship by Investment Unit in the past year has seen the continuation of its rebranding with the introduction of a new interactive internet platform. This has ensured that clients and agents are able to access information without visiting the Unit. This improved efficiency and responsiveness had contributed to showcase our Programme as the Platinum Brand. Our website is now considered a trendsetter with its investment calculator and location identifier. In addition, the Unit is a leader in processing applications under the accelerated application option. During the past year we have also replaced the traditional application forms with a digital version that is printable and editable. This has improved the time it takes for a file to be completed.
• In spite of challenges regionally and globally, the programme has remained resilient with the investment options of Real Estate and Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF). As the competition remains aggressive we have increased our participation at conferences and roadshows leading to positive results.
• Our due diligence process remains robust and unwavering, and even more efforts are being employed to maintain the integrity of the programme. New legislation is being introduced in the area of Escrow Accounts, and this would strengthen the protection of the clients’ funds, while ensuring that escrow agents are stringently regulated.
• The short term Hurricane Relief Fund Option we have offered our clients is another route to obtaining citizenship while at the same time providing funds to assist with the Hurricane Recovery efforts. This option would remain open until March 2018, after which the Government will be exploring other options in the future, suited to our economic development. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) once recommended that “governments should stand ready to roll out new initiatives as necessary…, must start addressing long term fiscal challenges by advancing reforms to put public finances on a more sustainable path.” In this critical area of our economy the Administration would do whatever is appropriate. These reforms would be initiated to ensure our competitiveness in the CBI space and would be a lasting benefit to our Federation.
• Continued support extended to the Citizenship by Investment Unit for additional enhancement of the Citizenship Application Management System (CAMS), an application that enables the CIU to process applications faster, better preserve the confidentiality of client information, and manage the entire application process from the point of submission by the Service Provider to archiving.

St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA)

The St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) has focused mainly on attracting Foreign Direct Investment into the Federation mainly in the Real Estate Sector. The benefits which accrue from these investments and the ripple economic effect cannot be overemphasised. During 2017, in spite of other Caribbean Countries’ incursion into the CBI programme, with Real Estate Projects at prices and fees well below that of our Federation, the Agency attracted close to US$550 million in Foreign Direct Investment through several large scale projects which have been approved both on St. Kitts and Nevis for 2018. These projects would create well over 1800 jobs on a medium and long term basis.

In this regard, resources have been provided in the 2018 Budget to do the following:

•  Capacity building at SKIPA and CIU with a view to improve efficiency thus reducing processing time of applications, assisting in their activities to attract and facilitate investors.
•  Continued promotion of the Citizenship by Investment Programme to attract foreign investment.

The 2016 expenditures for managing CIU is $12.6 million and planned estimates for 2018 is $14.3m

The St Kitts Government in another report has said..