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
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
28(i)(iv). [? Costs]. As the political leadership becomes
more responsible, so the constitution may need to be adapted.
The aim 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.
-
J
3. The alternative to independence union with the US Virgin
Islands (less than a mile off-shore) is often mooted.
[?
Several thousand] BVI islanders earn their living on the USVI
and these links might be further encouraged (para 26(iv)). But
CONFIDENTIAL
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