Update: IMA Grenada Releases Richest CBI Data Set on Record, Includes Applicant Nationality Data for The First Time

Update: Yesterday, we published this article under the headline “Grenada CIP Outperforms Expectations in H1 2024 But Discontinues Publication of Processing Data” and expressed our dismay at program authorities’ decision to become less transparent by withholding key data.

In reaction to our article, IMA Grenada has since published the missing data and has, moreover, also released applicant nationality data for the first time in the program’s history, providing the richest dataset on record.

Updated data

Grenada’s IMA today contacted IMI with additional data, providing a more complete data set than ever and one that will propel it to the top of IMI’s CBI Transparency Index.

As he had signaled in his interview with IMI during Global Citizen Week in Cairo in April, IMA Grenada boss Thomas Anthony has made strides in eliminating the backlog of Russian applications hanging over from 2022 and 2023, years during which Grenada’s CIP was the only among its Caribbean peers to remain open to that nationality:

Whereas at the end of last year, the total backlog of unprocessed files had stood at 1,826 (according to IMI’s calculations based on the difference between the number of received and processed applications going back to 2017), it now stands at only 1,048, the bulk of which is likely to be from non-Russian applicants.

The Unit's catching up on pending files has been assisted by a precipitous drop in new applications (now that it's no longer accepting Russians), coupled with the sustained increase in processing capacity implemented during the periods of extreme levels of demand in 2023.

While application volumes have diminished by more than 90% since the peak, approval volumes remain at record highs.

This has translated into sustained high revenues for the program. CBI income (all forms, including contributions, project investments, and fees) reached some EC$502 million (US$ 186m) in the first half of 2024, representing a 10% drop from the latter half of 2023 and a 12% decline from the same period last year.

Total CBI revenue in the first half of 2024 amounted to 44% of the total revenue from last year.

Considering that the pending files have an estimated value of nearly EC$600 million, Grenada could still see record revenue in 2024 even if it receives no new applications, simply by processing the applications in the backlog.

Since 2020, applicants have preferred the Approved Investment Project (real estate) option as their qualification route, and the gap between the two options has continued to widen.

Now that the difference in cost between the two options is even smaller (thanks to the MoA price changes last month), the relative popularity of real estate could continue to increase. However, a dearth of new real estate projects could upset that prognosis.

The program is all but certain to set multiple records in 2024. Productivity at the Unit has never been higher, and the reduced application volume is unlikely to hold the program back in the near term because there is such a large backlog of unprocessed files to address. This will drive record approval volumes and see an all-time high of new passports issued. Already by the half-year mark of 2024, Grenada had issued 3,034 new passports to CBI investors and their family members, putting it on track to exceed the 2023 total by 27%.

For the first time in the program's history, Grenada's CBI authority, now known as the Investment Migration Agency (IMA) Grenada, has released data on the nationality distribution of applicants.

It reveals that Chinese investors account for 28% of the total so far this year. Anecdotal pronouncements from then-CIU boss Kaisha Ince in 2018 indicated the Chinese share of the program had been as much as 98% that year, but no official figures have been available until now.

Nigerians now constitute the second-largest applicant contingent, at 21% of the total, followed by Americans at 7%, Indians at 5%, and Lebanese at 5%.

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