Antigua & Barbuda - Foreign Direct Investment

According to the old adage, you are judged by the company you keep and your behaviour towards others. Money is no different. Arguably, this explains Antigua & Barbuda's failure to attract sound foreign direct investment.

Though some would contend that the problem is simply due to the country's relatively high cost of doing business, the reality lies far from this simplistic conjecture. Significantly, apart from a handful of Canadian banks, blue-chip financial institutions do not exist in Antigua & Barbuda. The departure of the Barclays Bank brand in 2003 was notable.

Prior to the 2004 election success of Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer's United Progressive Party, for almost fifty years the Antigua Labour Party and its Bird-led regimes held the country in an adverse investment environment. This has been achieved through perpetual malgovernance, well-documented links to international crime and widespread corruption.

Nor has political violence been absent. Between 1972 and 1976 when the ALP was temporarily out of office, numerous hostile acts were recorded and rampant sabotage was the order of the day.

It has been documented and recognized that the presence of certain highly influential businessmen and government benefactors has proven to act as a barrier to legitimate foreign investment on the island nation.

The consequent advisories placed on Antigua & Barbuda by both the US and British Treasuries following the Bird Government's appointment of purported...