St Kitts and Nevis: PM Drew announces Christmas Season Concession

St Kitts and Nevis: Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew announced the approval of Christmas Season Concessions during a Press Conference held on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. This Concession would be implemented from this month, i.e., November 15 to January 31, 2024.

He recently shared the information through his official Facebook handle.

As per Prime Minister Terrance Drew, the Christmas Season Concession will be available on Food Stuffs and Non-Commercial Importers and travellers.

• The Gift packages of Food Stuffs have the first 400lbs free on Duties and Taxes.
• The Non-Commercial Imports have a duty-free allowance of EC 675.00 (US$250.00) of the cost, insurance and freight value.

These concessions would be enforced to help the small businesses and local communities of the federation. 

Through this, local people and small entrepreneurs can easily avail goods and services for themselves and enjoy the festive season.

At the Press Conference Yesterday, Prime Minister Dr Terrance, while announcing the Concession, informed that this year, the Government implemented the concession in the middle of November. 

The Concession also include the following-

1. A discount of VAT 5% on the sale of goods will be made available. 
2. The Concession would not be eligible for guns, ammunition, Cigarettes and other alcoholic beverages.
3. For Vehicles, There will be zero VAT on the First EC$50,000, and a standard VAT rate will be implemented after that.

This year, the Government has also increased the concession rate to $250. He said this has been done because the Government is aware of the Inflation. Inflation that is being imported.

He added that this year, people are seeing an increase because they import those increases. 

“if America has Inflation, we will get Inflation as well because a lot of our products come from there,” the Prime Minister asserted.

Reportedly, As of 2022, the Christmas Season Concession has also been implemented on food parcels and packaging up to 400 lbs. This time, the Concession has also slightly raised on Non-Commercial Importers (US$200.00 to US$250.00). This is because of the rising inflation level.

Last year, the Concession was applied at the beginning of November. The packages received by courier services on or before December 31 2022, were only allowed with the concession.