While many readers have commented on my recent article,
Antiguans should be considering their individual responses to my prediction of a serious local economic malaise, in the aftermath of the loss of the government's principal fiscal crutch, its Citizenship by Investment (CIP) funding. I must admit that I have counseled more than one Antiguan professional to relocate, sooner rather than later, because of what I regard to be an economic tsunami which will devastate the country's economic structure, from top to bottom.
My advice is that they join the more than 14% of Antiguan citizens who have, for economic, social, familial, or personal reasons, become expats, before they find their sources of income, whether from private employment, businesses they own or manage, or even their prized government staff jobs disappear in a flash, after governmental budgets implode, and widespread layoffs impact the fragile economy, through a serious shortage in the part of consumers to pay for the cost of living, let alone have any disposable income.
The problem is, where will all these people migrate to? The present American government will be in office until January 2029, and immigration changes to the current Draconian impediments to visas and immigration will most likely not return to the previously friendly regulations. Canada's mandatory visa policy and strict path for permanent legal residency rule it out as a feasible alternative. What about the UK and Europe? Honestly, is someone has transportable skills, which are in demand, they might qualify, but what about all the others, especially those without university degrees and marketable occupations? My fear is that they will remain within Antigua, unemployed and with bleak prospects. Perhaps all those people who repeatedly voted to allow the current Labour government to exploit the CIP program to pay bills, instead of job and industry creation, should have thought about what would happen when the finite CIP money machine ran dry, or closed up shop. What are they all to do now for income to pay their bills in 2029?






















