Grenada has decertified five projects under its Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI), saying that those involved “shall immediately cease sourcing potential investors to invest in the decertified project.”
The CBI grants international investors Grenada citizenship in exchange for a major investment in the island’s socioeconomic development.
In June, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell revealed that the authorities were in the process of decertifying various projects that had been approved years before his administration took office in June of last year.
“If you have been approved and have not started the project, and there is no indication that you intend to do so, we will not hesitate in ensuring that we decertified the project,” Mitchell stated at the time.
On July 7, Thomas Anthony, the chief executive officer of the CBI Office here, signed the notices decertifying the five companies. The announcement was made public in the official Government Gazette.
One of the decertified firms is New Opportunities Investment Limited (NOIL) of Canada, which was informed that its “approved project status is hereby revoked effective as of the 7th day of July, 2023.”
Hope Development Limited, Grenada Corolla Consultant Limited, Horseshoe Cove Resort, and Port Louis Ltd are the other decertified enterprises.
They are all prohibited, like the Canadian company, from advertising their “decertified project as an approved project on any websites and on any promotional advertising material; and shall immediately refrain from sourcing potential investors to invest in the decertified project” beginning July 7.
The projects involved were not described in the notice.
Through the CBI program, almost 8000 people from various countries, including China, Russia, Nigeria, South Africa, and India, have become citizens of Grenada since 2014. Applicants can either contribute to the National Transformation Fund or invest in a CBI-approved project.
Grenada is expected to collect an estimated EC$362.5 million (one Ec dollar equals US$0.37 cents) through its CBI program in 2022, a 23 percent increase over the previous year and a 30 percent increase over 2020.
The majority of investors (332 out of 453) chose to acquire real estate.
During the first quarter of 2023, the authorities approved 578 new citizens, generating little about EC$57 million. According to the 2023 Estimates and Revenue, the government expects to earn EC$240,461,920 for the fiscal year.
