Basseterre, St. Kitts (SKNIS): Foreign Direct Investment in St. Kitts and Nevis is expected to significantly rise in the short and medium term as a result of a number of projects negotiated by the Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Economic Development and Investment, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas.
While contributing to the 2024 Budget Debate in the National Assembly on December 19, Dr. Douglas stated that major investments are on the horizon.
“We are happy to report that the Cabinet has approved concessions for the development of a luxury brand hotel,” he said, adding that it will create jobs for hundreds of locals during the construction period and after it officially opens.
“That is our work, our aim, our goal. Bring investment in the country so our people can work,” the senior minister stated, noting that additional information will be forthcoming.
The estimated investment is over US$100 million. Other projects are also “in the pipeline” totalling more than half a billion US dollars, indicated the senior minister.
The investments are as a result of efforts by the Right Honourable Dr. Douglas, who spent much of the year re-engaging with current and new economic partners. This is particularly important as the government prepares to fund a number of capital projects in the new year buffeted by figures that point to a rebound of local economic sectors to a pre-pandemic level by the end of 2024.
“The fiscal year 2023, was spent reorienting the international community with St. Kitts and Nevis. It was saying to the rest of the world that eighteen months ago we came in here [and] it’s a new country – a new administration,” he stated. “We have been able to convince the rest of the world that something different is happening in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
To this end, Dr. Douglas said that his overseas engagements invited investments in tourism, particularly health tourism, a modern technologically-based manufacturing industry, offshore education, green energy, and public infrastructure, while finding the careful balance between economic development and sustainability.
The promotional work by the senior minister is consolidated by the work of the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA).