Citizenship by investment in Grenada: the best choice in 2020
The living standards are rapidly improving in Grenada and this small Caribbean country can become your ‘backup option’ if you acquire its passport in 2020. The economic situation in the world has been quite unstable over the recent years and Grenada runs a citizenship-by-investment program that allows purchasing a second passport. Better be safe than sorry, is it not true?
You will find everything in Grenada that is needed for a happy life: clean air, the beauty of pristine nature, wildlife reserves, wonderful sandy beaches, the smell of exotic flowers and spices, a dynamic nightlife, and a unique Caribbean culture. The island welcomes you to make it your second home.
Grenada is nicknamed ‘a spice island’. When you are there, you will find some interesting dishes to try and you will enjoy the slow-paced lifestyle practiced by the friendly islanders.
Go there as a tourist and if you like Grenada, you can make use of its citizenship-by-investment program that was relaunched in 2013. Since that time, the program is growing in popularity with the investors from various parts of the world. You can acquire Grenadian citizenship and a second passport without too much trouble and within a comparatively short timeframe.
One of the possible immigration routes that you can take is purchasing a piece of real property on the island such as residential accommodations, for example. If you apply as a sole investor, you have to buy property that is worth at least US$ 350,000. However, if you make a joint investment with a friend, you can purchase a piece of property for US$ 440,000 each of you investing only US$ 220,000. The property will have to remain in your possession for a few years and then you are free to resell it while still keeping the Grenadian passport.
What makes this immigration route even more attractive is the recent positive news from the Caribbean country that reflect its rapid and comprehensive development.
If you have already decided that you do want a second passport of Grenada, please apply for a rapid and exhaustive consultation on the matter of acquiring one by writing to [email protected].
Citizenship by investment in Grenada: IMF experts forecast economic growth
The IMF Executive Committee published a complex report on the Grenadian economy in 2019. The general trends are positive. The country GDP grew by 4.25% in 2018 mostly thanks to the tourist and construction sectors development.
The inflation remains at a low level and the bank credit dynamics is positive. The budget deficit is also lowering but still remains at 11% of the GDP. The unemployment rate is high at 21.7% but the situation is gradually improving.
A large amount of foreign direct investments (FDI) contributes to the economic growth in the country. A considerable portion of these investments comes through the citizenship-by-investment program.
The state debt decreased by almost 7% in 2018 and the budget surplus continues growing. This tendency was expected to stay in place in 2019 (no data have been published so far).
The IMF experts believe that in the mid-term perspective, the economic growth may slow down. It will be conditioned by less amount of construction work financed by the FDI.
External risks are insignificant and they are mostly associated with the USA economy growth perspectives and global financial conditions. The internal risks are associated with the possibilities of the national budget growth.
Grenada: some economic performance figures for 2004 – 2024
| Country’s position in the UN Human Development Index, of 188 world countries | 79 | |||||||||
| Infant mortality coefficient per a 1,000 births (2016) | 9,9 | |||||||||
| Level of adult population illiteracy, percent (2004) | 4 | |||||||||
| Life expectancy, years (2014) | 73 | |||||||||
| Gross national income per capita, in US dollars (2018) | 10950 | |||||||||
| Poverty index (2008) | 38 | |||||||||
| Unemployment rate (2018) | 21,7 | |||||||||
| Population in millions (2018) | 0,11 | |||||||||
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Forecasts (annualized percentage change, unless specifies otherwise) | ||||||||||
| National income and prices | ||||||||||
| GDP in permanent prices | 6.4 | 3.7 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.0 |
| GDP deflator | 2.8 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| Consumer prices, end of period | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| Multilateral exchange rate | 2.5 | -0.2 | -2.6 | -2.4 | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| Money and credits, end of period | ||||||||||
| Private sector crediting | -3.8 | -0.2 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 2.7 |
| Broad money supply | 5.2 | 1.3 | 4.0 | 5.9 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| Credit rate (percent) | 8.7 | 8.4 | 8.0 | 7.6 | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| Deposit rate (percent) | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1.2 | … | … | … | … | … | … |
| State budget computation (in percentage to GDP if not specified otherwise) | ||||||||||
| Income | +24.5 | 26.2 | 25.6 | +26.5 | 25.6 | +25.5 | 25.3 | 25.3 | 25.1 | 24.8 |
| Spending | 25.7 | 23.9 | 22.6 | 21.7 | +21.5 | 20.9 | +20.5 | 22.4 | 24.2 | 26.3 |
| Capital commitment | 8.3 | 4.2 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 4.0 | 5.4 | 7.1 |
| Primary balance | 2.1 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 6.5 | 6.6 | 4.5 | 2.5 | 0.0 |
| General balance | -1.2 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 4.8 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 2.8 | 0.9 | -1.4 |
| State debt (including the secured debt), in particular: | 90.1 | 81.6 | 70.0 | 63.4 | 58.7 | 53.7 | 50.6 | 48.3 | 44.9 | 44.2 |
| — internal | 28.7 | 25.0 | 22.6 | 19.0 | +16.7 | 14.3 | 12.0 | 10.4 | 9.5 | 9.8 |
| — external | 61.4 | 56.6 | 47.4 | 44.5 | 42.0 | 39.4 | 38.6 | 37.9 | 35.4 | 34.4 |
| Savings to investment ratio, including: | -12.2 | -11.0 | -12.0 | -11.2 | -11.2 | -10.2 | -8.6 | -9.1 | -10.0 | -9.9 |
| — savings | 5.5 | 9.1 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 10.1 | 10.8 | 11.2 | 13.1 |
| — investments | 17.7 | 20.1 | 20.9 | 22.2 | 20.2 | 19.3 | 18.7 | 19.9 | 21.2 | 22.9 |
| External sector | ||||||||||
| Gross international reserves (in million US dollars) | 188.5 | 201.4 | 194.9 | 230.8 | 237.2 | 241.2 | 242.7 | 244.7 | 253.8 | 263.4 |
| Gross international reserves (in import months) | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Current account balance. including: | -12.2 | -11.0 | -12.0 | -11.2 | -11.2 | -10.2 | -8.6 | -9.1 | -10.0 | -9.9 |
| — Export of goods and services | 51.2 | 49.3 | 51.3 | 54.2 | 54.0 | 54.1 | 54.1 | 53.9 | 53.6 | 53.4 |
| — Import of goods and services | 50.9 | 49.8 | 53.1 | 55.2 | 54.9 | 54.1 | 52.5 | 52.8 | 53.3 | 52.9 |
| Gross foreign debt | 133.2 | 125.7 | 117.4 | 108.0 | 106.6 | 101.7 | 98.9 | 96.0 | 91.3 | 88.2 |
| Sources: Grenada Ministry of Finance, East-Caribbean Central Bank, UN, World Bank | ||||||||||
Citizenship by investment in Grenada: growth of tourism in the country
There are two basic ways to obtain Grenadian citizenship for money. The first one is a donation of US$ 150,000 to the state fund and the second one is an investment of minimum US$ 220,000 into real estate in the country. In this light, it would be reasonable to investigate the situation in the tourist market in Grenada. If the statistics provided by the Est-Caribbean Central Bank are correct (see the table below), the demand for the Grenadian real property is steadily growing year by year.
| January-March 2017 | April-June 2017 | July-September 2017 | October-December 2017 | January-March 2018 | April-June 2018 | July-September 2018 | October-December 2018 | January-March 2019 | April-June 2019 | |
| Total number of visitors, including: | 204 026 | 55 937 | 43 766 | 165 131 | 252 882 | 61 698 | 50 321 | 163 736 | 251 382 | 67 681 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 23.9 | 10.3 | 15 | -0.8 | -0.6 | 9.7 |
| — Total number of visitors arriving by air, including guests from | 37 392 | 34 291 | 37 607 | 37 086 | 42 956 | 36 417 | 41 125 | 40 477 | 45 157 | 37 228 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 14.9 | 6.2 | 9.4 | 9.1 | 5.1 | 2.2 |
| — The United States of America | 13 394 | 12 504 | 14 347 | 14 556 | 16 759 | 14 647 | 15 218 | 14 798 | 16 356 | 15 132 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 25.1 | 17.1 | 6.1 | 1.7 | -2.4 | 3.3 |
| — Canada | 4 384 | 2 124 | 2 252 | 2 623 | 4 581 | 2 653 | 2 755 | 3 795 | 6 420 | 2 488 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 4.5 | 24.9 | 22.3 | 44.7 | 40.1 | -6.2 |
| — Great Britain | 6 866 | 4 908 | 5 158 | 5 569 | 6 878 | 4 886 | 5 606 | 5 383 | 7 660 | 4 785 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 0.2 | -0.4 | 8.7 | -3.3 | 11.4 | -2.1 |
| — Caribbean basin countries | 4 507 | 7 327 | 7 797 | 5 638 | 5 714 | 6 759 | 8 599 | 5 928 | 5 386 | 7 636 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 26.8 | -7.8 | 10.3 | 5.1 | -5.7 | 13 |
| — Other countries | 8 241 | 7 428 | 8 053 | 8 700 | 9 024 | 7 472 | 8 947 | 10 573 | 9 335 | 7 187 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 9.5 | 0.6 | 11.1 | 21.5 | 3.4 | -3.8 |
| – Cruise ship passengers | 158 609 | 15 380 | 2 745 | 122 695 | 199 962 | 20 163 | 4 634 | 118 067 | 196 078 | 24 882 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 26.1 | 31.1 | 68.8 | -3.8 | -1.9 | 23.4 |
| – Yacht passengers | 7 471 | 6 158 | 3 249 | 5 115 | 9 826 | 4 941 | 4 424 | 5 090 | 10 035 | 5 283 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 31.5 | -19.8 | 36.2 | -0.5 | 2.1 | 6.9 |
| Excursion participants | 554 | 108 | 165 | 235 | 138 | 177 | 138 | 102 | 112 | 288 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | -75.1 | 63.9 | -16.4 | -56.6 | -18.8 | 62.7 |
| Cruise ship port calls | 123 | 33 | 33 | 102 | 139 | 16 | 16 | 75 | 133 | 26 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 13 | -51.5 | -51.5 | -26.5 | -4.3 | 62.5 |
| Visitors spending (in east Caribbean dollars, million) | 108.81 | 80.3 | 102.45 | 106.08 | 123.47 | 86.06 | 114.81 | 113.54 | 125.32 | 90.51 |
| Year-on-year change, percent | — | — | — | — | 13.5 | 7.2 | 12.1 | 7 | 1.5 | 5.2 |
The improving accessibility of the country should also contribute to the growth of demand for the real property in Grenada. In particular, the USA JetBlue company now has additional flights to the spice island from John Kennedy airport in New York.
American Airlines have also started flying to the Caribbean island. There is a weekly flight each Saturday arriving to Morris Bishop airport in the capital of Grenada. A 128-seat Airbus A319 connects the two points.
It is also sensible to invest into Grenadian real property because of the increasing number of international awards that the man-made and natural beauties of this Caribbean country receive. For instance, the local Grand Anse Beach has recently been recognized as the best beach in the world by Condé Nast Traveller UK, a world-renown tourist magazine. The authors of the magazine have made a list of twenty best beaches and Grand Anse Beach is at the very top of this list. This is certainly good advertisement: Condé Nast Traveler’s digital version has a three-million-people audience and the magazine has over 6.3 million followers in social networks.
The journalists have written the following about the beach: “There are numerous wonderful beaches in Grenada but the tranquil and sheltered Grand Anse Beach is probably the best one. Two miles of milk-white sand are only a short water-taxi trip away from the capital city of St George’s. The best hotels in Grenada are also found near the beach”.
Citizenship by investment in Grenada: the increasing speed of Internet connection
Flow Grenada company, a division of Liberty Latin America, which is part of Liberty Global Liberty telecommunication corporation, received a license last year for developing a network of data transmission in 4G format on the territory of Grenada.
After that, the company announced the investment of US$ 15,000,000 into the modernization of the broadband communication infrastructure in the country. The price of the mobile phone and the Internet connection is quite affordable in Grenada if compared to the prices in other Caribbean states.
The reconstruction of the telecommunications network by Flow Grenada will lead to the increase of the internet speed from 15 Mb per/ sec. to 50 Mb/ sec. This increase will be free of charge for the ultimate consumers. The company has also announced its plans to increase the internet speed in Grenada to 300 Mb/ sec. in the future.
Citizenship by investment in Grenada: prohibition of smoking in public areas
Grenadian Government aims at attracting more eco-tourists to the country, those who appreciate natural landscapes and healthy lifestyles. Thus, the authorities are strengthening the anti-smoking regulations. Smoking is already prohibited in public buildings, including state agencies, schools and hospitals. Soon public areas such as beaches, parks, playgrounds, and recreation zones will also be declared smoke-free areas.
Electronic cigarettes are soon to be made illegal in the country too. Currently, these can be freely bought and smoked in Grenada. However, the Government is worried by the reports about the damage that electronic cigarettes may cause to the smoker. Hence the prohibition.
You can send a request for first-hand information about acquiring citizenship and a second passport of Grenada to our e-mail [email protected]. We have already helped a large number of our clients from different parts of the world to become Grenadian citizens and enjoy all the benefits that this status brings. You can also join the group of the lucky ones if you apply for our professional services. Please contact us at the address specified above without hesitation!
How strong is Grenada economy?
Grenada is certainly not the richest country in the world but IMF experts believe that its economy has a good growth potential. The main sources of income for Grenadians are agriculture (including fishery) and tourism. The number of tourists visiting the country is growing every year so the prospects look good indeed. The main problem there is the high unemployment rate but this is actually an advantage for anyone who wants to do business in Grenada because the cost of labor is comparatively low in the country.
Is the Internet connection reliable in Grenada?
Yes, it is quite reliable. Moreover, a private communications company is investing a huge sum of money into improving Internet and mobile communication facilities in Grenada. Besides, the prices of the Internet and the mobile phone connection are quite affordable in the country.
Do many people smoke in Grenada?
Unfortunately, Grenada remains one of the ‘smoking countries’ on the planet. However, the Government takes measures to combat the bad habit. In particular, smoking in public areas is now prohibited in Grenada.