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2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review ST KITTS AND NEVIS
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Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
in the hotels and restaurants, construction and
manufacturing sectors.
Fiscal and Debt Developments
The fiscal operations of the Federal
Government resulted in an estimated
overall surplus (after grants) of $188.4m
(6.7 per cent of GDP), compared with one
of $51.2m (1.9 per cent of GDP) in 2017.
Likewise, the primary surplus (after grants)
more than doubled to $227.3m (8.1 per cent
of GDP), compared with one of $92.1m
(3.4 per cent of GDP) in 2017. The higher
overall fiscal surplus was largely attributable
to a widening of the surplus on the current
account, owing to increases in tax and non-tax
revenue. Similarly, a surplus on the current
account was recorded, which represented an
almost three-fold increase to $271.3m, in
contrast to a 17.5 per cent contraction in 2017.
Current revenue, rose by 34.0 per cent to
$1,006.0m in 2018 (35.8 per cent of GDP), in
contrast to a 1.9 per cent decrease to $750.5m
(28.0 per cent of GDP) in 2017. An increase
in non-tax revenue largely accounted for the
rise in current revenue. Non-tax receipts, rose
by 84.0 per cent to $466.7m (16.6 per cent of
GDP), for the most part influenced by a surge
in inflows from the Citizenship by Investment
Programme (CBI). Receipts from the CBI
programme more than doubled to $366.4m
from $156.9m in 2017, due to a resurgence in
the programme following the successful
introduction of the Hurricane Relief Fund and
the subsequent Sustainable Growth Fund.
Meanwhile, collections of tax revenue, rose
by 8.5 per cent to $539.3m (19.2 per cent of
GDP), attributable to buoyancy in receipts
from all of the sub-components. Taxes from
income and profits rose by 13.3 per cent to
$151.9m attributable to higher collections
from company tax (23.7 per cent) and
withholding tax (33.0 per cent). The revenue
collections from international trade and
transactions totalled $156.6m, which was
8.5 per cent larger than the outturn in 2017.
This higher level of revenue was primarily
attributable to higher receipts of import duty
(7.5 per cent), customs service charge
(7.8 per cent) and travel tax (63.7 per cent).
Revenue from taxes on domestic goods and