Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 2, 2018 – As the St. Kitts and Nevis economy continues to tumble, more small businesses are closing their doors resulting in loss of pay checks, unemployment and non-payment of bills.
On Monday, 30th April, the popular Tek Dat Bar on Fort Street closed its doors.
Persons on Fort Street observed workmen taking down the Tek Dat Bar sign and removing kitchen and other equipment from the building around mid-day.
On the other side of Fort Street, the Chinese Restaurant, My Way Oriental Delicacies, also closed its doors recently.
Recent small business closures in Basseterre include Exclusives Shoe Store, which operated out of the old Singer building on the top of Church Street and DeJoynt, an ice cream parlour that operated on the corner of College Street and Cayon Street.
Other known closures in recent times include a Colombian-operated night spot on Wellington Road, Stonewalls on Prince’s Street, the Balahoo Restaurant at The Circus, Nichols Trading Limited on the Bay Road and David Coury & Co. Ltd’s General Store on College Street.
Several small businesses, some of them opened in the last two to three years are experiencing difficult times and have either closed or on the verge of closing as they are experiencing low sales.
After strong economic performance in St. Kitts and Nevis in 2013 and 2014, the Barbados-based Caribbean 
Development Bank (CDB), said the St. Kitts and Nevis economy has weakened significantly in the first three years of the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity Government (TUG).
After significant real economic output of 6.2 percent GDP in 2013 and 6 percent of GDP in 2014 under the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) administration of the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, the Caribbean Development Bank in its 2017 Report, states that the economy of St. Kitts and Nevis under Timothy Harris’ Unity Government (THUG) began its downward trajectory, dropping to 4 percent in 2015, 2.2 percent in 2016 and 2.8 percent in 2017.