The CBI crackdown on Dominica and four other OECS nations by the UK could have an impact on the entire currency union. For some of the islands, it will be severe, St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves signaled on Monday in an API interview.
“Severe implications, and for some of them substantial, because the money for the CBI programme is used as revenue, which goes to their recurrent expenditure”.
“It may have some knock-on effects also for the whole currency union, but that is a matter that we will have to deal with as we go along”.
According to Gonsalves, there won’t be a problem with the exchange rate, but a decline in economic activity.
“You’re not going to have an alteration in the exchange rate, but if you have less US dollars coming in, you’re going to have less EC dollars in circulation, which means it would have a dampening effect on economic activity and very specifically on the fiscal front for those countries to pay the bills on a monthly basis”.
Gonsalves advised the citizens of Saint Vincent to exercise caution whenever someone approaches them with a scheme to get rich quick.
“You notice that I am subject all the time to serious analysis and judgment, and I explain to the people, and so far, on these matters, the people have accepted my judgment: citizenship by investment, selling up passports, my position on Taiwan versus mainland China, and all other matters”.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman told British MPs in a letter that the two Commonwealth countries, Dominica and Vanuatu, “operated a citizenship by investment scheme that has shown clear and evident abuse”.
According to the UK government, concerns surrounding Dominica’s program include:
Poor due diligence around applications, including those of dependents. The provision for name changes upon receipt of citizenship. The lack of a residency requirement for applicants and the granting of citizenship to nationals of other countries who ordinarily require visas to enter the UK has consequently led to increased levels of asylum applications.
