FACING A SIGNIFICANT REVENUE LOSS WHEN SAINT KITTS CBI GRINDS TO A HALT, NEVIS' PREMIER MARK BRANTLEY MUST REFORM ITS DODGY OFFSHORE FINANCIAL CENTER OR ELSE FACE A COLOSSAL BUDGETARY SHORTFALL

Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister TERRANCE DREW may have chosen not to respond to last month's letter from the European Union, requiring that his country's Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport sales program be closed within two years, but he knows that it represents a sea change in the financial affairs of the two island federation, as well as for the entire group of five EC passport-issuing states

That life-altering event, total loss of all CBI revenue,  has perhaps the greatest impact in Nevis, whose government budget suffered for years, when Federation leadership in Basseterre doled out an unequal 7.2 per cent of net income to its local government, whilst retaining the vast majority to Kittitian recipients. Although it was later adjusted to a more equitable 25%, more recent revenues sharply declined, due to a number of factors, including but not limited to allegations of fraud, money laundering and corruption. 

Nevis, as we have shown, has historically received the short end of the stick, and now, with the EU action, that needed revenue stream will completely disappear. This untoward development leave the government of Premier MARK BRANTLEY in a difficult situation, which has been made even more tenuous, revenue-wise, by a major unfolding scandal in the island's nascent offshore financial center, especially banking. 

NEVIS, WHERE THE OFFSHORE BANKS ARE HAPPY TO ACCEPT YOUR DEPOSITS; THEY JUST WON'T GIVE THEM BACK. WILL PREMIER BRANTLEY NOW BE FORCED TO RESIGN FOR THIS SCANDAL?

Premier Brantley, who is said to have been instrumental in assisting with beleaguered local Hamilton Reserve Bank secure its license, must now find a way to satisfy unhappy depositors at two offshore banks, while insuring that those financial institutions stay solvent, and restore the reputation of the island as an offshore financial center that investors will continue to flock to for services. Given that Nevis will experience  a serious budgetary shortfall, it is up to the premier, who has designs on the federation's top office, to keep the offshore clients coming, lest Nevis be unable to meet its payroll, and be forced to layoff government workers. What will he do?