Citizenship by Investment Programme needs to be revived to benefit people and stimulate economic growth and increase employment

Photo 1 – Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, April 6^th 2017 – A call for the revival of the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Programme to benefit the people, stimulate real economic growth and increase employment has come from an opposition legislator.

“It will take a St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) Government who understands the programme, who understands its importance to ordinary people and the building out of the programme to support every sector of the society,” said Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty.

The SKNLP legislator and former Minister of Education, Information and Agriculture said the SIDF was a value for the small businessmen and women and it needs to become beneficial again to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

He highlighted the use of SIDF funds to expand the tourism sector in the areas of airlift and infrastructure, pointing out too that the SIDF funded the REACH programme, empowered the ordinary working class person to become entrepreneurs through the provision of small business loans and improving the quality of life of citizens in becoming land owners, home owners and university graduates.

“It is the SIDF that would have provided the financing for the second cruise pier at Port Zante. That is in jeopardy because the SIDF is presently doing next to nothing,” said Sen. Carty.

“The small business loans that were given to ordinary people, the small businessmen and women who were starting up their business for the first time and those who needed capital to stimulate and grow their businesses and thus provide greater employment opportunities for the people of the country came from the SIDF,” said Carty, who also highlighted the Women in Construction programme and the Women in Small Enterprise (WISE)  which were fully supported through the SIDF with loans and of EC$10,000 and EC$15,000 to get started and improve their businesses.

“That is what the CBI means and that it what it will mean going forward. It ought to mean leveraging our Citizenship by Investment Programme  and our ability as an independent country to ask local people and foreign investors to come and enjoin us in our overall strategy of investment in our people and in the construction of hotels like the Park Hyatt, Koi, Ramada (T-Loft) and Heldens now under construction,” said Sen. Carty.

Photo 2 – Dr. Earl Asim Martin

During the Issues programme on Wednesday, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works, Utilities and Energy, Dr. Earl Asim Martin pointed out that the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Programme and the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF) were “the hub of the economy” between 2010 and 2015.

He too pointed to the several projects in St. Kitts and in Nevis that not only generated economic activity but also provided financial, employment, training and educational assistance to young people.

“One could have seen the various and diverse projects that were involved in hotel and home construction, infrastructural development such as roads, community and cultural centers,” said Dr. Martin, noting that both programmes were bitterly criticized by the then opposition Team Unity that now forms the government.

He said there were 10 applications under the Citizenship by Investment Programme in February this year.

“The programme has become a total embarrassment that the Team Unity government is now feeling the (financial) squeeze. The whole country is feeling the squeeze. This government has not come up with even another alternative to assist in the overall economic development of the country,” said Dr. Martin, who noted that several social programmes like he REACH which provided financial assistance to students attending the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC), the Nevis Sixth form and AVEC.

He pointed out that the SIDF also provided financial assistance for the construction of Kittitian Hill, a loan for the renovation of the Ocean Terrance Inn (OTI), loans to FINCO and National Bank for on-lending to first time home owners, renovation of schools and financing of several projects on Nevis.

Dr. Martin lashed out at the lack of foresight of the Team Unity government which closed down the Cappisterre Farm project at Belmont when it took office.

“Now having destroyed it, they have indicated they want to restart it,” he disclosed.