CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — The Nevis Island Administration is in pursuit of alternative investments for the island, Premier Vance Amory disclosed on local television last week.
As minister of finance in the NIA, Amory said that although there were already investments in the tourism industry and real estate, the administration was seeking to attract investment of a different kind with an incentive.
“As a government, I want to say that we are looking for investment, other than through the tourism or the real estate. The government itself, we are dealing with persons who we feel may want to invest in additional government bonds, but we are going to put a twist on this,” he said.
“If somebody invests in government bonds and we use those bonds for infrastructural development, we will apply to the federal government for those persons, who make the level of investment, for them to be considered under the Citizen by Investment (CBI) [program].
“So we are now shifting from the private sector investment to public sector investment for the CBI,” he said.
According to Amory, plans were afoot for talks with potential investors who may have an interest in purchasing bonds.
“In another couple of weeks, I am hoping that there will be some persons who will come in to discuss with us the possibility of doing just that, taking up some bonds but those bonds would be applied for government projects and then we can get them the citizenship. They can apply for it, that is they qualify because it’s not a matter of just handing citizenship because due diligence has to be done.
“If they qualify, they can have it and this will fulfill what the International Monetary Fund is saying so more investment and more plans and capital projects under the CBI and we are looking towards that and I think things will go very well,” he said.
Source: caribbeannewsnow.com
