by Linda Straker
- 770 new citizens contributed to NTF, while 1,027 invested in real estate project
- Revenue for January to August was EC$372.2 million
- Revenue for July to September was EC$202,394,508.11
Government has earned approximately half a billion Eastern Caribbean dollars (EC$500 million) from the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme after the CBI Committee approved 4,861 new citizens over the period January to September 2024, and hundreds more in October.
The 2024 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure projected that for the period January to December, the revenue from the CBI will be EC$280,697,921 but data in the August fiscal report shows that revenue for January to August was EC$372.2 million.
The latest CBI data from the Ministry of Finance released on 1 November showed that Government’s revenue from the programme for July to September was EC$202,394,508.11 — with September earnings. This means that earnings for September were EC$76,845,490.05. This means that total revenue for the year so far stands at approximately EC$448.2 exclusive of October earnings.
One local agent said that government actually crossed the EC$500 million in October but that data will be publicly released in the final quarter of 2024.
During the third quarter of 2024 — July to September — Nigerians and Chinese applicants represented 48.2% of those granted Grenada citizenship through the CBI programme which is managed by the Investment Migration Agency (IMA). Approximately 435 Nigerians and 445 Chinese were approved, representing 23.8% and 24.4% of total citizenships granted.
The IMA website showed that 1,827 people were granted citizenship while 44 were denied by the committee chaired by Richard Duncan. The committee falls under the Ministry of Citizenship and the Minister is Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
Other nationalities receiving approval were 90 from the USA or 4.9% of the total, and 108 from Ukraine or 5.9%. Vietnam, Syria, Armenia, Turkey, India, Lebanon, Iraq and South Africa are among other nationals with all the rights as a citizen of Grenada.
770 citizens paid for their citizenship via a contribution to the National Transformation Fund (NTF), while 1,027 were granted after they invested in a real estate project. Most of the 1,827 new citizens were families incorporating spouses with children and grandparents as dependents.
Data showed the number of applications for the 3-month period was 178, with the total number of new citizens for the period January to September 2024 was 4,861. For the period April to June, the number was 1,816 and for January to March, the number was 1,218.
