Foreign direct investment has been the central engine of Antigua and Barbuda’s economic surge over the past 25 years, the Governor General said Thursday during the Throne Speech, linking major inflows of overseas capital to the country’s jump from a US$802 million economy in 2000 to more than US$2 billion today.

Sir Rodney Williams told Parliament that foreign investment has underpinned growth across construction, hospitality, banking, housing, and public infrastructure, describing it as the foundation on which the country’s “solid, stable and soaring” progress has been built.

He said major hotel developments, port and airport upgrades, the expansion of local banking through the acquisition of former Canadian bank assets, and new utilities infrastructure have all been made possible through sustained FDI interest. These projects, he noted, created jobs in abundance and strengthened the country’s attractiveness to further investors.

According to the address, the government believes that sound policymaking, widespread access to education and skills training, a stable political climate, and one of the lowest crime rates in the region have helped position Antigua and Barbuda as a favourable destination for global capital.

Sir Rodney also cited the growth of the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, improved healthcare and housing expansion as key elements that have widened opportunity and strengthened the workforce.

With new luxury tourism projects, major road reconstruction, university expansion and utilities upgrades underway, the government expects foreign direct investment to remain a defining feature of the country’s economic model as Antigua and Barbuda enters the next quarter century of development.