Antigua and Barbuda Among Caribbean’s Highest-Income Countries

Prime Minister Gaston Browne says Antigua and Barbuda is now among the highest-income countries in the Caribbean, citing recent World Bank figures that show a sharp increase in the country’s per capita income over the past decade.

Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show on Saturday, Browne said the World Bank’s latest published statistics place Antigua and Barbuda’s per capita income at more than US$21,000, with the figure expected to have since risen above US$22,000.

“The World Bank just recently published the 2024 statistics, and they have the per capita income for Antigua and Barbuda at US$21,300 and something,” Browne said. “In fact, it’s probably more. It’s over US$22,000 per head right now.”

He said those figures place Antigua and Barbuda among the region’s wealthiest economies.

“It means that we are probably the second or third highest-income country within the Caribbean, probably only exceeded by Barbados and possibly The Bahamas,” Browne said.

The prime minister noted that when his administration assumed office in 2014, the country’s per capita income stood at approximately US$14,000.

“When we came in, it was US$14,000 per head. If we have now taken it up to US$22,000-plus, we’ve added another US$8,000,” he said.

Browne acknowledged that per capita income does not necessarily reflect the earnings of every individual but argued that the increase, coupled with what he said was a decline in the country’s Gini coefficient, indicates that economic gains have been shared more broadly across the population.

He also said Antigua and Barbuda’s higher-income status has made it more difficult to access concessional financing from international lending institutions.

“The downside is that it precludes us from concessional loans,” Browne said, explaining that higher-income countries are generally offered shorter repayment periods and less favourable borrowing terms than lower-income nations.

Despite that challenge, Browne said Antigua and Barbuda has continued to secure concessional financing from China and recently obtained similar financing from Saudi Arabia to support the expansion of the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus.

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