City of Basseterre (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

In January of this year, government implemented a new policy for duty free stores in St. Kitts and Nevis, which introduced two main classes of duty free stores – class A and Class B; identified duty free zones, and listed the goods to be approved for duty free importation.

Since the introduction of the policy, a number of issues have been raised by stakeholders, mainly concerning the list if goods to be approved in accordance with the policy.

“The Standing Committee, consisting of members from the public and private sectors will review the present concerns, make recommendations relating to these concerns, and to act as a monitoring agency for the duty free policy over the medium to long term,” said Minister of State for Information, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty.

He stated that in keeping with its commitment to support local businesses and the development of the tourism sector in particular, government reviewed, discussed and approved a number of concessions for small local hotels and other similar enterprises.~~Adz:Right~~

“These concessions were given in accordance with the Hotels Aid Act which empowers the government to consider the economic impact of Hotels and related businesses and to assist in and facilitate the development of the tourism sector by providing certain fiscal concessions,’ Mr. Carty reiterated.

He emphasised government’s awareness of the tremendous development that has taken place in St. Kitts and Nevis over the last 12 years due to such proactive policies of assistance to businesses in all sectors of the economy.