Business Environment

Cable & Wireless (St. Kitts-Nevis) Ltd is a joint venture between Cable & Wireless and the St. Kitts-Nevis Government that provides domestic and international telecommunications services to the islands and is digitized, using fiber optic cables. They offer services offered such as Direct Dialing, Leased Circuits, Internet, CLASS Services and Voice Mail. ISDN is available on request. Cable and Wireless Caribbean Cellular (St. Kitts) Ltd. provides cellular phone service.

VHF/UHF/SHF Radiotelephone International takes care of inter island links to Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Martin (Guadeloupe and Netherlands Antilles): international calls are carried by radiotelephone to Antigua and Barbuda and switched there to submarine cable or to Intelsat; or carried to Saint Martin (Guadeloupe and Netherlands Antilles) by radiotelephone and switched to Intelsat.

There is a Government run 39-channel cable television service that broadcasts daily news programs from North America and England via satellite as well as three local newspapers are published: the weekly "Democrat" and "Observer" and the twice-weekly "Labor Spokesman".

The federation’s tap water is rated as being of high quality and is considered safe to drink. St. Kitts can also provide excellent and luxurious conference facilities at the Fort Thomas Hotel, Horizon Villa Resort, and Ocean Terrace Inn, all offering modern electronic equipment for meetings.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and The Eastern Home Mortgage Bank are headquartered in St. Kitts. Moreover, three international banks are represented in St. Kitts and two in Nevis. Also the Federation boasts of several accounting firms and law firms of international standing. Finally, a large range of legal, accounting, management and trust company services are available throughout the Federation.

Investment Incentive Schemes

At this time eight industrial and commercial free-trade zones operate in the Federation. These zones are located at Tacna, Ilo, Mollendo, Tumbes, Trujillo, Paita, Chimbote and Pisco. What’s more there are four completely developed industrial sites that have production facilities that can be constructed to specification and leased at nominal rates. It is predicted that factory space will increase annually by 15,000 sq. ft. in St. Kitts and 5,000 sq. ft. in Nevis. These sites are managed and serviced on behalf of the Government by the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis.

The Government offers investors exemptions from customs duties for imports and exports in export processing free zones; such exemptions from any St. Kitts and Nevisvian tax extend for a period of 15 years. In general, special commercial treatment zones located on the jungle frontier and offer the following benefits to companies operating inside their borders: exemption from value-added taxes; a reduced 10% customs duty; and accounting is permitted in foreign currency.

The Hotel Aids Ordinance extends duty-free concessions including relief from customs duties and pier dues on items for use in the construction, extension and equipping of a hotel of not less than 30 bedrooms.

The Income Tax Ordinance offers unique tax relief benefits for hotel proprietors that have been granted licenses under the Hotel Aids Ordinance: the gains or profits of a hotel of more than 30 bedrooms are exempt from income tax for a period of 10 years, for hotels with less than 30 bedrooms, the gains and profits are exempt from income tax for a period of 5 years.

Companies that qualify for tax holidays are allowed to import all equipment, machinery, spare parts and raw materials used in production into the Federation without paying any customs duties.

Under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, in addition to participating in the financial contribution allocated by Washington to the member countries, St. Kitts qualifies for duty-free entry into the United States of more than 95% of its products, not including sugar.

Under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), manufactured and semi-manufactured goods are also eligible for duty-free access to United States markets. Almost all of the items produced in Federation and raw materials garnered from the Federation are eligible for GSP treatment under the list of some 2,800 products eligible for duty-free importation. Despite this fact, to qualify, the product must have had 35% of its appraised value added in the beneficiary country. This adds to the Federation’s status as a site for conversion of merchandise because of its skillful and well-trained labor force.