Basseterre, Nov. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The new administration of St Kitts and Nevis is committed to rooting out corruption and providing fertile new ground for business with its Anti-Corruption Act.
The Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Terrance Micheal Drew is looking to unleash the full potential of the country through proactive policymaking, instilling good governance and eradicating corruption. In this way, the government sees the new Anti-Corruption Act as one step towards reactivating its infrastructural and social growth and building a more resilient and inclusive economy.
The proposed Act will enable the appointment of a Special Prosecutor who will examine and prosecute criminal acts of corruption in the civil services, statutory boards and government-owned companies.
St Kitts and Nevis’s anti-corruption efforts are thus an essential part of a broader plan to attract international business and investors to the country. The country’s focus on ensuring ease of business and eradicating corruption has, in particular, generated significant interest from West African investors who are eager to launch their businesses overseas.
The wider aim of the anti-corruption drive is to promote ease of business in the country, with St Kitts and Nevis inviting investors to be part of its economic development. The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Drew, is specifically focused on formulating policies that attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to the country.
While corruption is a global problem, the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranks sub-Saharan African as having notably high levels of perceived corruption. In West Africa, particularly Nigeria, corruption has become a massive obstacle to business, undermining public trust, distorting markets and increasing costs to firms.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a leading professional services network headquartered in London (UK), recently published a study indicating that Nigeria’s corruption could cost it up to 37% of its GDP by 2030 if it’s not dealt with immediately. The report further highlights the significant impact of corruption on Nigerians – including its wide-ranging effects on finance, business investment and standards of living.
All these difficulties are prompting West African investors to look further afield for business opportunities that offer safe and profitable returns. Many of these investors are turning to St Kitts and Nevis.
As an indicator of its commitment to citizens and investors, the government of St Kitts and Nevis is taking strict and serious action to ensure transparency in government. These measures and the general ease of doing business in the country are proving attractive to Nigerian investors who, facing a difficult situation at home, are looking to expand their horizons.
Meeting this interest is St Kitts and Nevis’s Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI). For nearly four decades the programme has been inviting people to invest in the country as a route to gaining citizenship. Through an investment in the country’s Sustainable Growth Fund (SGF), investors are granted alternative citizenship, including the ability to conduct business freely in the country.
The CBI programme also helps investors to gain access to the world’s most exclusive markets, assisting with the expansion of business beyond national borders. Since St Kitts and Nevis is just a short flight away from the USA, citizens have the additional benefit of easy accessing the international community.
Alternative citizenship in St Kitts and Nevis is therefore becoming a crucial part of many individuals’ wealth diversification plans. Prospective Nigerian investors are viewing it as a means to preserve their wealth within an economically stable context, appreciating that St Kitts and Nevis’s economy is growing and free from the political and social conflicts that impact financial growth.
Along with a safe and corruption-free environment, St Kitts and Nevis offers a number of advantages to investors in its CBI programme. These include hassle-free global travel, citizenship for life which can also be passed on to future generations, a smooth and straightforward application process with the ability to add additional dependants to one application, possibilities for wealth diversification, and a host of new business opportunities.
Despite being the smallest country in the Western hemisphere, St Kitts and Nevis has been proving its potential to foreign investors. With a hospitality and service industry that has garnered international critical acclaim, the country also boasts one of the most robust and modernised public health infrastructures in the region.
St Kitts and Nevis’s education system now also offers advanced learning possibilities for all its citizens. This has proved a distinct benefit to investors, since the country allows investors the ability to pass their citizenship on to future generations. Thus investors and their families can enjoy the various rights and advantages open to those born in the country.
But it is not only Nigerians who have been thinking about personal wealth solutions in an unstable political and economic environment. Given the recent turmoil and instability of global markets, investors from around the world have been looking to St Kitts and Nevis’s CBI programme as a “Plan B” that can ensure financial and personal security.
Many investors have found that living in St Kitts and Nevis has had a positive impact on their mental health. Not only does the country provide its inhabitants with a tranquil environment of beaches and mountains to explore, but with the security and stability required to grow a business or provide for a family. As St Kitts and Nevis rolls out its good governance and transparency agenda, investors look on keenly to partake in its future.
PR St Kitts and Nevis Government of St. Kitts and Nevis mildred.thabane@csglobalpartners.com
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