UK Aid (1985/86)
Capital
T.C.
CONFIDENTIAL
distillation, ice-making, paint
manufacturing and some handicrafts.
£0.9m
- £0.2m
Economic
1. Tourism is the main producer of income and revenue in BVI and will undoubtedly remain the main motor of economic activity. It
accounts for some 45% of the nations economy and employs about
26% of the workforce. Unemployment is not a problem and indeed
BVI employs a large number of people from other islands, who
require a work permit. This imported labour provides a useful buffer in less prosperous times. Efforts are being made to
develop an offshore financial sector.
Future Prospects and Action
The aim
2. Economically BVI is already sufficiently well established to
be granted independence, though the economy could be even sounder were it not for Ministerial financial irresponsibility. Politically BVI is however backward and it is in this area that HMG's assistance might concentrate, along the lines of para 29(i)-(iv). As the political leadership becomes more responsible, so the constitution may need to be adapted. should be to encourage and establish responsible political leaders who could form a political party commanding the electorate's majority support at present BVI politics owes everything to personalities and very little to policies or stable political groupings. There is a marked degree of corruption, manifested by frequent outbursts against the constraints of dependent status, which have more to do with personal frustration than political idealism. The electorate too, with the exception of a small youthful minority, has, in the absence of firm political leadership, shown little wish to change the status quo.
3.
An alternative to independence
Islands (less than a mile off-shore)
union with the US Virgin
—
is often mooted.
Many BVI
islanders earn their living on the USVI and these links might be further encouraged (para 27(iv)). But the crime,
CONFIDENTIAL