St Kitts reflects Caribbean’s financial woes - FT.com

St Kitts reflects Caribbean’s financial woes - FT.com: "The secluded location of Ottley’s Plantation Inn, perched in the foothills of the dormant volcano that dominates the Caribbean island of St Kitts, has not sheltered it from the global financial inferno.
The economic downturn that followed has damaged the region’s vital tourism industry and as a result, Ottley’s, a converted 18th-century sugar plantation, has had to reduce its room rates substantially."

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f2bcee8a-d299-11e1-abe7-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz22kp1ZwcT

Art Keusch, one of the innkeepers, says the resort still has “loads of Brits and Americans staying”, but concedes he is “very concerned” about the state of the US and UK economies – two of the most important sources of tourists for the Caribbean.

The decline in tourism – and the closure of its struggling sugar industry in 2005 – contributed to tipping St Kitts and Nevis over the fiscal cliff this year. With debts equivalent to about twice its annual economic output, the tiny island federation was forced to restructure, slashing its debt-to-gross domestic product to about 95 per cent.

St Kitts and Nevis is not the only Caribbean nation to be affected. Many face their biggest challenge in generations as they struggle with mountains of debt in economies battered by tropical storms and the tourism slump.

Belize is locked in talks with international creditors about debt restructuring. Bankers and economists fear many other Caribbean countries could follow suit.

'via Blog this'