Douglas highlights foreign direct investment attracted to St Kitts-Nevis under his leadership

Former Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of St Kitts and Nevis has highlighted a few of the foreign direct investment his St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration attracted to the federation under his leadership.

Dr Douglas said local and foreign investors can only have confidence in the economy and its administration when sound financial and economic data are made available by reputable financial and economic institutions.

He has told Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris that the people of the twin-island federation have relied on the transparency and responsiveness of former administrations to provide them with relevant information relating to the wellbeing of the economy and it was time for him to make public the Article IV Consultation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Dr Douglas also said the St Kitts and Nevis economy flourished during his St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration and highlighted some of the foreign direct investment he attracted to the federation to provide jobs and improve the quality of life of the country and its people.

"To date, the Harris regime has been dancing all over the place to avoid giving the people an evidence-based picture as documented by the IMF as to the real state of the economy of St Kitts and Nevis," Dr Douglas said Wednesday during the popular Issues programme on Freedom 102.5 FM.

"Please lift the embargo you have placed on the IMF 2018 Article 1V Assessment of the Economy of our beloved country," Douglas said. Prime Minister Harris has prevented the Executive Committee of the IMF from making public the report following its visit to St Kitts of an IMF Mission to St Kitts in late June/early July 2018.

He said that the Labour Party Government has always released the IMF report.

"During my tenure as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, I used it as a benchmark to make pragmatic but sustainable decisions on how best to grow our economy in terms of increasing wealth for all, leveraging the human resources of our Federation and expanding or improving various sectors of our economy for vibrancy and quality of life improvements of the people," said Dr Douglas.

"Our economy in 2010 to 2015 under my leadership became the leading economy in the OCES and our people flourished," he said. St Kitts and Nevis economy grew over 6 % in 2013 and 2014 after challenging years brought on by the international economic and financial crisis.

"We created jobs for our young people. We expanded the green energy sector and attracted billions worth in foreign investments," said Dr Douglas.

These included the Park Hyatt St Kitts, the St Kitts Ramada (under construction), the T-Lofts (under construction), the St Kitts Marriott and Royal Beach Casino, Christophe Harbour Marina, Saltplage, The Pavilion, Silver Reef Resort and Residences, Imperial Bay Golf and Beach Residences, Koi Resort, Ocean Edge, Manor by the Sea, The Castle, Koi Sales Office, Rendezvous (incomplete), Kittitian Hill (Belle Mont), YU Lounge at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport, the St. Kitts Scenic Railway and the St. Kitts Eco-Park, Embassy Suites (Incomplete), Golden Rock Commercial Park (Incomplete) and Montebello (Incomplete) among many other projects private and public.

"We built over 5,000 affordable homes for families and we increased Social Security from EC$300 million when we went into office to EC$1.2 billion when we left," Dr Douglas said.

Douglas, the political leader of the St Kitts-Nevis Labour Party said his party is ready for the upcoming general elections.

"Under the Next Gen SKN leadership, I plan to position the Federation as the cutting edge of several emerging medical, environmental, cryptocurrency, fantasy sport and energy industries so that our people can create wealth for themselves under our prosperity agenda.