ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program earned more than EC$150 million last year, an increase of almost 40 percent when compared to the earnings from 2020.
That figure is expected to increase this year, according to Karline Purcell, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the CBI Office.
“For 2022, we are looking ambitious, and we are going to be doing some things in that area. We are looking to bring this up closer to $300 million,” she said during an end-of-year interview with the Government Information Service.
Grenada offers two investment options under its CBI program. An investor can make a payment to the National Transformation Fund or invest in a local real estate development project approved by the Government. Under either option, a CBI applicant must also pay application, processing, and due diligence fees.
Purcell acknowledged that there was some misinformation in the public about the process for earning citizenship through the CBI.
“I think that persons are misinformed in terms of the due diligence process…"
"That process is a tedious one, it’s a diligent one. Our due diligence is second to none; we can boast of that because it’s a very vigorous one. We have due diligence happening at varying levels of the process, from the time the application comes in, at the marketing agent level, at the local agent level, at the banks level,” she elaborated.
Purcell said applications were coming from Asia, East and North Africa and India.
Data on the Ministry of Finance’s website show that between 2017 and 2021 more than 3000 people were approved for citizenship under the CBI program.
