PM Gaston Browne urges OECS to target 7% GDP growth for regional development

Antigua and Barbuda: Prime Minister Gaston Browne urged OECS governments for a regional shift toward entrepreneurship, innovation and local ownership to increase its GDP to 7%. Speaking in a radio interview, he said that with the growth of regional GDP, the economy of Antigua and Barbuda will rise from $6 billion to $12 billion within a decade. 

He unveiled his plan to double the economy of Antigua and Barbuda over the next 10 years and added that there is an urgent need to transform policies and adopt new approaches for the growth of the economy. PM Browne added that if the OECS gets successful in achieving the level of growth, then the country will grow and transform. 

While advocating for a new strategy, PM Browne stressed that there is a need to adopt digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and smarter service delivery. He mentioned that these things can be used as tools to accelerate the economy in Antigua and Barbuda and across the wider Caribbean. 

He also called for transformational leadership across the region and stressed that the shift in strategy would be helpful in tackling geopolitical and climate-related headwinds. 

Focus on Local business

The central agenda of the plans of PM Browne is the development of locally owned business infrastructure. He said that the local business must be given importance to enhance economic conditions and the GDP. 

PM Browne stressed that the foreign-dominated ownership structures result in profits being repatriated abroad. He said that the conditions have limited national wealth accumulation which is a keen factor for the GDP growth. 

The OECS governments must adopt the approach to promote both individual and collective wealth. PM Browne added that there is a need for a more entrepreneurial approach that could be a critical shift for the resilient prosperity of the region. 

PM Browne added that there is a need to increase local wealth and capture more of the profits domestically. It will help in turning incremental progress into exponential economic transformation as it will see higher tax revenues, dividends and overall GDP growth.