EDITORIAL - Push ahead with economic citizenship

In the fog of controversy over the proposed Goat Islands logistics project, everyone seems to have missed a significant observation by Dr Omar Davies last week during his parliamentary update on the scheme.

The Government, Dr Davies said, planned to review the relevant laws, policy and produces regarding to granting of Jamaican nationality "in light of possible requests for citizenship from investors within the project area".

This newspaper, however, does not believe that the proposed review should be dependent on, and specifically related, to this specific project, which includes a trans-shipment port, an industrial park and logistic facilities. Goat Islands or not, it makes sense, we believe, for Jamaica to develop a programme for the generating of economic citizenship.

Jamaica faces a deep economic crisis and is in need of private capital, including from abroad, to invest, create jobs, and grow the economy.

But as our sluggish performance in foreign direct investment inflows underlines, foreign investors are not jostling to come to Jamaica. The US$360 million we attracted in 2012 was less than half the annual average during the second half of the first decade of the 2000s.

Our competitors are not only developing countries, but rich ones, too, who apply myriad strategies to entice capital. Granting citizenship to people who invest is among them.

Job creation strategy

Take the United States. As we noted last August, America has for more than two decades offered residency and green cards to people who invest at least half a million dollars in enterprises that create at least 10 jobs. That programme has reaped more than US$7 billion in investment and created more than 50,000 jobs.

Britain has a similar programme, as does Canada, where someone with a net worth of CDN$1.6 million, with half in net free cash, can invest in government bonds or approved instruments and gain residency and a fast track to citizenship.

Several Caribbean countries have, or are developing their own economic citizenship programmes. Jamaica has talked about this since the 1980s. It's time to act.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.