The Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris at his recent press conference announced that over 16,000 passports issued under the CBI program and the Federation approved more than 4,000 new applicants over the past three years.
“The total number of CBI passports now issued stands at 16,544” revealed Dr. Harris, which is reported by Winnfm.
The Economic citizenship program, oldest in the world, started in St Kitts and Nevis dates back to 1984. Other Caribbean countries, with visa-free access to more than 100 countries, soon followed the country’s example: the Commonwealth of Dominica in 1993; Antigua and Barbuda in 2012; Grenada in 2013; St. Lucia in 2015.
In 2018 Budget speech, PM Harris said Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme continues to be an important contributor to Non-Tax Revenue and contributes significantly to the buoyancy of construction and allied industries.
The CBI has been a reliable source of income for the Federation before and during its transition from sugar in 2005.
According to the IMF 2017 report., St Kitts and Nevis CBI inflows has hit ECD $1.9 billion from 2011 to 2016.
The non-tax revenue of the CBI program for 2015, amounted to 16% of GDP (ECD 294.5 million). IMF estimated 11% of GDP for 2016 came from CBI. The CBI revenues hit record high in 2013 and 2014 reaching 18% of GDP.
In April 2018, St Kitts introduced Sustainable Growth Fund with US$150,000 investment contribution option and Real estate prices were cut to $200,000 from $400,000 to boost real estate sector.
