-
by pltm
(PLTM) - Premier and Minister of Finance Hon. Andrew Fahie has defended the belief by some, that the British Virgin Islands' good economic position is linked to illegal activities.
Speaking on Monday, October 19, 2020, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Economic Zone for District Five, he said the territory's success is linked to love for one another.
He explained: "As we come here today, we see something that is naturally what we as Virgin Islanders are about. We have an economy that economists cannot understand; we have businesses that the best of accountants come and they cannot understand. How do we survive? What is it we have? We have no manufacturers, we have no industries, but yet business continues to thrive in the BVI. Yet, more and more persons want to come to the BVI to live, yet more and more persons want to come to the BVI to do business."
He continued, "What it is that causes businesses in the BVI to blossom more and the people to blossom more? Some people think it is because we only do illegal things, but that's because they are in the minority and they don't understand the culture of the Virgin Islands."
Premier further said the success is also linked to being a God-fearing territory.
"The culture of the Virgin Islands obey the rules of the bible, get a need, and plant a seed. And, with the need and we plant a seed, that's how we have homes. We start to build, and people come, and they give us a bag of cement, and they give us a shovel, and a pallet of blocks and everybody comes on the weekends even though it doesn't happen much now it still happens in some villages here and there," he shared.
The Premier added, "And, we build and we build until we get our homes and our businesses, that's the reason that our natural product is BVI love and that's what we are doing, here again, doing investment in our young people in the economic zone."
The BVI's economy has been described as, "one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean" according to the 2020 CIA World Factbook.
-----
Copyright 2023 by Virgin Islands Platinum News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
