Prime Minister Godwin Friday says the citizenship by investment (CBI) program his government intends to open this year will be walled off from ministers and the political directorate. He framed it as a tightly regulated financing tool rather than a standalone economic pillar, speaking on The Bubb Report with Grenadian journalist Kellon Bubb.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is the last independent member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) without an operational CBI program. Friday’s New Democratic Party (NDP) ended 24 years of Unity Labour Party rule at the November 2025 election, and launching such a program was a central campaign promise. His remarks built on the framework his deputy outlined in December.
A firewall, not a revenue grab
There must be “a distance” between how the program is run and the political directorate, Friday said, ruling out ministerial involvement or interference. Voters must be able to see how much money comes in and where it goes. Parliamentary accountability for both inflows and spending is, in his telling, non-negotiable.
The program is “not an economy,” he said; “it’s a financing mechanism.” Agriculture, tourism, a “new economy” built on information and communication technologies, and a blue economy spanning fisheries, marine services, shipyards, and yachting make up the four pillars he wants to build. CBI money would feed those sectors and help service debt, not substitute for production, jobs, or exports.
Debt at 113% of GDP
Friday tied the decision to limited fiscal room and a regional shortage of capital, putting SVG’s debt at around 113% of GDP and rising. That figure tracks the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 2026 Article IV findings, which put debt at 113% of GDP in 2025 and warned it could reach 145% by 2031 absent a change in policy.
He pledged to work back toward the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s (ECCB) fiscal anchor of 60%. The currency union as a whole sat near 79% at the end of 2025, with the ECCB aiming for the 60% mark by 2035.
CBI is one instrument among several in that plan. Friday placed it alongside debt swaps, possible debt forgiveness, concessional loans, foreign direct investment, and a revived domestic private sector.
Last to move, and in no hurry to undercut rivals
Being the last OECS state to consider CBI is, in Friday’s framing, an advantage. SVG can study what worked and what failed elsewhere before writing its own rules.
He backed common regional standards and an oversight role for the ECCB to stop neighboring programs from undercutting one another, and said SVG would push for that even without a fully harmonized framework in place. The aim, he argued, is to avoid a “race to the bottom” on price, due diligence, and transparency.
Due diligence and the ‘good name’ of the state
Friday returned repeatedly to due diligence, tying it to the country’s reputation and the worth of its passport. A program that damages SVG’s standing would be self-defeating, he argued, and the government will not court promoters or applicants whose aims run against long-term national development. Nor, he said, is this a “get-rich-quick” exercise for the politically connected.
The backdrop: US and EU pressure
The launch plan is taking shape under external pressure on Caribbean CBI generally. Washington suspended immigrant visa processing for 75 countries in January, SVG among them, despite its lack of an operational program. Brussels, in a December report, treated the operation of citizenship programs as grounds for visa suspension and urged the region’s program states to work toward discontinuation.
Friday’s “firewall” will be tested only once the program is running. SVG has targeted mid-2026 for launch, with proceeds routed through a legislatively ring-fenced Investment Fund and residency conditions attached to applicants. The legislation that turns these pledges into operating rules has not yet been published.
