St. Kitts and Nevis Country Statistics

LOCATION

The twin-island state of St. Kitts and Nevis is in the Lesser Antilles in the Eastern Caribbean. The country is in the northern part of the Leeward Islands group. It is 64.6 miles (104 km) west of Antigua and 57.9 miles (93.2 km) northwest of Montserrat.

ECONOMY

The St. Kitts and Nevis economy achieved a notable economic turnaround after entering a 36-month Stand-By-Agreement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2011. By the end of the programme in 2014, the country’s fiscal and external balances improved, supported by healthy inflows from its Citizenship-By-Investment (CBI) programme. Over the period 2010-2019, St. Kitts and Nevis moved from an economy in contraction, with a large fiscal deficit and public debt over 160 percent of GDP in 2010, to a growing economy in 2019, with a fiscal surplus and debt below 50 percent of GDP. However, this growth was short-lived with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With global travel muted due to lockdown measures, global tourism contracted by 65 percent. The immediate fallout was a decline in real GDP by 15.3 percent in 2020. Nonetheless, the economy rebounded modestly in 2021 as real GDP grew by 0.4 percent. Substantial gains were achieved in 2022 as real GDP climbed by 10.5 percent. These gains can be attributed to the full removal of travel restrictions which caused economic activity in the hotels and restaurant sector, the proxy for the tourism sector, to expand by 124.5 percent. The upswing in tourism provided positive spillover effects into the transport, storage and communication sector and wholesale and retail trade, which grew by 21.2 percent and 30 percent, respectively. 

Over the last five years, the output from the construction sector represented an average of 14 percent of GDP. The next largest contributors, the transport, storage and communication sector, and financial intermediation, each accounted for 10.7 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively. The tourism sector’s contribution to GDP averaged 6.1 percent during the period. The real estate, renting and business activities sector accounted for 10.6 percent. 

According to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), real GDP expanded by 2.7 percent in 2025, led by a strong performance in the tourism sector, which experienced a 7 percent expansion. Growth in the tourism sector was driven by a 20.7 percent increase in cruise passenger arrivals and a 2.8 percent expansion in stay-over arrivals. This helped to generate activity in other key sectors, including wholesale and retail trade, and transport, storage and communication, which grew 4.2 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. The construction sector expanded by 2 percent, as tourism-related buoyancy and public-sector projects provided the bulk of the impetus. These projects included the construction of the FT Williams Highway, Basseterre Desalination Plant, and the Atlantic View Plaza. 

St. Kitts and Nevis’s fiscal position deteriorated in 2025, as the fiscal deficit grew to 8.8 percent of GDP, up markedly from 6.8 percent in 2024. This outturn was the result of a fall-off in current revenue from 29.7 percent of GDP in 2024 to 25.6 percent of GDP in 2025, which was precipitated by a significant contraction in CBI revenues. Current and capital expenditure both declined. However, this was not enough to off-set the decline in current revenues. Further, attempts to curtail expenditure were interrupted by higher-than-expected outlays for discretionary social assistance, which were 124 percent higher in 2025 than 2024. The financial sector recorded growth in both household and business credit of 5.5 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively. The sector was supported by adequate liquidity and a decline in non-performing loans (NPLs) to 16.5 percent in 2025.     

Although real GDP growth has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, St. Kitts and Nevis remains vulnerable to declining CBI revenues, which can result in a further deterioration of the fiscal position. Amidst the ongoing Middle East crisis, the economy faces a heightened risk of accelerated inflation from imported energy and food products. Further, the anticipated increase in airfare, can potentially dampen prospects in the tourism sector in the second half of 2026.