Premiere Mark Brantley says St. Kitts and Nevis must urgently rethink its economic model as global pressure mounts on the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme and tourism remains vulnerable to external shocks. In a wide-ranging statement posted on social media today, the Nevis premier outlined what he described as a bold national prescription for economic diversification, warning that the country stands at a crossroads and must move decisively toward a more sustainable future.
FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
CBI is Dead. Long Live CBI. BY Premier Mark Brantley/ Nevis
I have argued for some years and I believe it must now be clear to many that St. Kitts and Nevis desperately needs to expand and diversify its economy. Many have offered criticism but very few have offered ideas. Here is my prescription:
1. Accelerate the development of the renewable energy sector with geothermal energy as the underpinning. We can transform our economy to an energy based economy over the near term and become the Norway of the Caribbean. New jobs, new revenue streams, huge savings from a move away from oil, insulation from external shocks particularly from oil producing regions, new industries like AI centers which require large amounts of cheap energy and above all significant cost relief for our residents and local businesses.
2. Invest in greater food security including agriculture and agriculture value added products. We should develop a broiler industry and become completely self sufficient in eggs, poultry and certain crop types. Again this insulates us from external shocks and can potentially help us to better control the cost of some food items. Food security is national security.
3. Accelerate the development of the Cannabis industry. Be bold and legalize cannabis completely for all uses research, medicinal and recreational BUT couple this with ongoing and extensive education for our people about cannabis use and abuse.
4. Get the growing cruise industry to contribute more to enjoy our shores. St. Kitts has one of the strongest cruise sectors in the OECS but charges very little to the cruise companies. The OECS should harmonize their head tax which currently hovers around US$7. The Bahamas for example is more than 3 times that.
5. Accelerate investment in the creative economy. Nevis is leading with film and St. Kitts has an undeniable regional leadership role for MusicFest and SugarMas. How do we leverage those and the creative arts into major economic contributors?
6. Accelerate the development of special economic zones for identified sectors which the country wishes to develop. Tech, AI, Hospitality, Agriculture, Education, Health, Residential all offer possibilities.
7. Re-orient the CBI programme to look to meaningful investment from existing economic citizens rather than constantly seeking new citizens. If we can get even 10% of existing economic citizens to invest in St. Kitts and Nevis in more substantial ways, our long term economic prospects would be significantly enhanced. I have proposed a bespoke unit within CIU dedicated to contacting and networking with economic citizens of St Kitts Nevis globally to provide them with investment opportunities in St Kitts and Nevis.
8. Develop a comprehensive strategy to incentivize locals and SKN nationals in the diaspora to invest in St Kitts and Nevis. Small business development has to become an urgent priority. Nevis published a new policy in January 2025. It can become a national model.
9. Invite the technocrats at the Ministries of Finance in St. Kitts and Nevis to assess whether comprehensive tax reform could help to jumpstart the local economy in a meaningful way. During the budget I suggested that VAT be lowered incrementally to spur local consumption but such approach would have to be carefully studied.
10. Incentivize the offshore education sector to encourage larger numbers of international students to our shores. Students and their families contribute significantly to the local economy
11. Grow the population. We must develop strategies to grow our population. Local birth rates are low so we must have targeted migration and appeal to our diaspora to return home. We cannot seriously develop a Nation with a working population of less than 30,000 people.
St. Kitts and Nevis finds itself at a crossroads with CBI dying and tourism ever fickle. We need all to lend their minds to developing a new national paradigm to maintain our march to a sustainable island State.
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I am not in the league of economist are anything of that sort, just a normal business person, but the model I see that can lift the Caribbean people from servitude to foreign businesses that are mostly extractive economies, is black empowerment, if we duplicate what white monopoly capital domination has done for white people, they allow white people to own land and properties and bank financing, we would solve our problems, we have historical sights that can be allocated in partnership governance for private investment by local indigenous black Caribbean people natal to the country, but this white validation syndrome that politicians seeks prevents a black politician from seeing their own black people as investors, some of our historical sights has had the same former slave owners come back with just organization name listed on paper only and is given concessions to list our historical sight in their organization name, as some heritage sight in their portfolio that give them access to stock market to have their company been invested in where shares could be purchased, so just by them associating themselves with our heritage sight they generate from remote locations across the world, the politicians empower foreign white people with the country’s best white sand beaches instead of allowing multiple small black businesses to occupy the beach and create entrepreneurship that ease the strain off the government as main employer paying salaries and taking out statutory deduction from the same product, it need foreign exchange that could be taxed, so local businesses will generate small amount of government tax revenue juxtaposition to foreign white investors getting all that tax concessions that is in actuality living off the back of the poor black tax payers and still extractive economic model throughout it’s lifetime.
An example is bay street in Nassau Bahamas where a white sand beach a ten minutes walk from the cruise port decked out with restaurant and bars and souvenir shops and restroom and changing rooms provide by the government with sewage and electricity and water service. Now that’s a progressive government, so it get taxes and insulate the government from direct sanctions since these businesses are private and does their own public relations and advertising.
If our politicians stop seeking white validation and supervision and instead help it’s black people then the government won’t have to sell passports and all it’s prime lands, we are not a continent, allow shops up at brimstone hill or in Antigua Shirley heights for the local black born natives.
First it was offshore banking, next it was online gaming, and next it will be CBI.
Truth is that the next “industry” that propel our economies to the level of sustainability and advancement will be shut down, as Caribbean sustainability and advancement is a national threat to everyone.
They have us right where they want us because why??? There is no unity among us. We are all competing for the same crumbs that they throw at us. It’s the old “do as I say and not as I do” mentality. This whole world is selfish selfish and more selfish and I grieve for us all.
That is a very bold, brave and audacious comment. The CBI has been a cash cow for St. Kitts and Nevis, just like Antigua and Barbuda over the years. The program is now under tremendous scrutiny and pressure from Washington and even the European Union recently and even though they have recommended changes to make the program more acceptable, continued and sustained pressure would be put on all the OECS countries until the program is completely disbanded. Most of our countries depend on the CBI for revenue for infrastructure, education and health. Increase in taxes would inevitably happen if the CBI is ceased.