Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, is positioning St. Kitts and Nevis to be the best managed small island state in the next ten years, and the strong economic signs are already indicating that the twin island Federation is heading in the right direction.
For the past 3 years, St. Kitts and Nevis has recorded positive economic growth, and as a result of the Government’s prudent fiscal management, the country now boasts the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio among the independent states in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Additionally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that St. Kitts and Nevis’ debt-to-GDP ratio would fall below the ECCU’s debt to GDP target of 60 percent in 2018, well ahead of other member states.
“The records will show that we have put more people to work. We are the metropole for those wanting to invest and work. That is why we are getting the Six Senses Hotel [and] that is why we are getting Ritz Carlton and more. Our people have earned more under Team Unity,” Prime Minister Harris said during his press conference on Tuesday, July 17.
The Social Security Board has recorded its best employment data, the most business licenses issued in a year, the highest annual Wage Bill, the highest number of contributors to the Social Security Scheme and the highest wages in the history of St. Kitts and Nevis, all under the Team Unity Government.
The vast increase in employment figures was largely driven by the introduction of the Government’s Fresh Start Programme, which was responsible for the establishment and expansion of more than 400 new businesses in the last three years through the provision of concessionary funding.
World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index for 2017-2018 which evaluated St. Kitts and Nevis as being the least corrupt jurisdiction in the Caribbean region. St. Kitts and Nevis ranks 28th out of a total of 113 countries in the world “way ahead of Barbados, St. Lucia at 33, Antigua and Barbuda at 34, Bahamas (40) and Trinidad and Tobago way down at 48.”
The Citizenship by Investment Programme in St Kitts and Nevis is the oldest and fourth ranked CIP in the World. The Government recently cut prices for SDF to $150,000 and Real estate $200,000.
St. Kitts and Nevis attained the strongest growth and fiscal performance in the ECCU region in recent years, with public debt set to meet the ECCU’s 60 percent of GDP target in 2018. The strong macroeconomic performance owes much to the robust Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) inflows as well as overall prudent macroeconomic policies.
