The Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Lionel Hurst said that the efforts for the country to be removed from the European Union’s list of non-compliant tax jurisdictions was vital for the country to attract foreign investment, despite the “shifting goalposts” of EU tax rules.
Representatives from the Inland Revenue Department, Ministry of Legal Affairs, ONDCP, FSRC, and the Intellectual Property Office met with Cabinet to discuss the joint effort that led to the country’s removal from the EU’s list.
Speaking on the recent de-listing, Hurst stressed that remaining on such a list would have severely hampered the nation’s ability to attract new businesses.
“Foreign direct investment is an important plank of the economic growth of Antigua,” Hurst said. “[International] banks, for example, that serve the local banks are wary of doing business with a jurisdiction that is on the EU’s blacklist.
The delisting process required Antigua and Barbuda to address concerns raised after a negative assessment from the OECD Global Forum regarding information exchange protocols.
According to Hurst, maintaining compliance will require constant vigilance as international regulatory requirements continue to evolve, affecting relationships not only with European financial institutions but also with American and Canadian banks.
“Each time, we pass laws that they have proposed to safeguard the Europeans, each time they have passed new regulations in their own countries they then require jurisdictions like ours to make further steps.
“So [even though] we are compliant today, it does not mean that if some other piece of legislation is introduced in the EU, that it would not make us non-complaint,” he concluded.