Antigua and Barbuda to expand English Harbor's yachting sector with $40M allocation

Antigua and Barbuda: The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has finally approved a whopping $40 million allocation in equity and borrowings to assist the expansion of the yachting industry in English Harbor. The development comes after it was said that the country's yachting sector is experiencing saturation due to insufficient facilities. This has unfortunately led to the necessity of turning away several yachts. Although Antigua and Barbuda are the leading yachting destinations in the Caribbean region, this issue puts the country some steps backward.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced that the long term goal is to produce a cultural park which will benefit the tourism sector and residents of the island nation.

In addition to this, it was reported that the expansion work will include repairing the barracks at the Nelson's Dockyard facility. PM Browne also stated that the government's intention is to continue to grow the tourism sector while developing other sectors.

He also mentioned that diversification of the economy is not a zero-sum game and tourism will continue to be a major driver of economic growth in Antigua and Barbuda and within the Caribbean region since a very long time and it is one of the sector in which there is a competitive advantage.

The Prime Minister also mentioned that for microstates such as Antigua and Barbuda, it is very difficult to produce goods on a sustainable basis that too on a reasonable price.

He outlined so one find that a lot of the good which are consumed, it is cheaper to import them.

While citing a case, he emphasized that if people starts eating a lot of chicken in this country and if it is locally grown it will cost for around $25 compared to the one which is imported and that will be probably around $10 or $12.

This is the reason that Browne is looking forward to get exported products as of now because Antigua and Barbuda is not at that stage in which there are wages or salaries that would support the level of subsidy needed to make the products cheap or competitive export purposes.