Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Fiscal anchor

ECCU regional benchmark: public debt to 60% of GDP by 2035. A stated objective only, not legally binding: Saint Kitts and Nevis is one of the few ECCU members with no fiscal framework in law.

IMF programme status

No active programme; Article IV surveillance

Notes

Public debt is projected to cross the 60% regional benchmark in 2026, reaching 64.0% (IMF CR 2026/093 Table 2, 7 May 2026), up from 58.4% in 2025. The 64.0% figure supersedes the 63.6% carried in the March 2026 staff concluding statement, and the whole forward path was revised up with it. Net debt on the same table is 61.0% for 2026, so the benchmark is crossed on both measures but by very different margins. The primary balance shown, -7.5% of GDP, is the 2026 projection in Table 2 of that report, matching the year of the debt figure beside it; the 2025 estimate was -10.4%. Excluding CBI receipts and transfers to banks, the adjusted primary balance is far weaker: -15.7% in 2025 and -13.5% in 2026. The gap between the two lines is the measure of how much of the fiscal position rests on citizenship-by-investment receipts. The fiscal deficit is estimated at 11.7% of GDP in 2025; persistently low CBI revenue keeps deficits elevated over the medium term. Real GDP growth is estimated at 1.5% in 2025 per the IMF 2026 Article IV staff report (PR 26/143, 7 May 2026), unchanged from the March 2026 concluding statement; growth is projected to rebound to 2.0% in 2026, revised down from the 2.2% indicated in March on construction, agriculture, renewable energy projects, and continued tourism recovery.