ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — The Grenada government is reporting that revenue and grants for the first half of 2025 declined by EC$112.6 million as compared to the same period last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Finance.

Last year, the government received EC$740.3 million, declining to EC$627.7 million for the first six months of this year.

A review of the data shows that during the month of June, there were significant reductions from revenue collected under the category of property tax and non-tax revenue. One of the non-tax revenue which showed substantial reduction is the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme under which foreign investors are granted citizenship of Grenada in return for making a substantial investment in the island’s socio-economic development.

According to the official figures, last year the CBI revenue was EC$40.5 million, but for June 2025, the amount was EC$10.5 million.

But the Ministry of Finance said the decline, which was anticipated and explained during the 2025 budget presentation, is primarily due to extraordinary revenues collected in 2024, which resulted from a significant backlog of the CBI programme applications, particularly from Russia and Belarus, as well as enhanced processing efficiency by the Investment Migration Agency (IMA).

It said that backlog was fully cleared in 2024, and revenues in 2025 have returned to historical norms, representing approximately 12 per cent of total government revenues.

The ministry added that for the period January to April 2025, revenues from IMA performed better than projected, with actual collections exceeded the target by $7.7 million.

Meanwhile, the June 2025 Fiscal Report said that current revenue for June 2025 was EC$93.8 million which was EC$1.9 million more than the 2025 target and EC$21.4 million less than the collections for June 2024.

Total grants in June 2025 amounted to EC$6.5 million which was EC$1.9 million more than the target and EC$6.1 million more than the actual in June 2024.

Total current expenditure, excluding principal repayments for June was EC$71.4 million, which was EC$10.2 million less than the EC$81.6 million targeted and capital expenditure in June 2025 was EC$45.3 million or EC$19.1 million more than the amount spent in June 2024 and above the EC$29.6 million monthly target.

The June fiscal report published on the Ministry of Finance website also shows that a primary balance (including grants) of minus EC$14.8 million was recorded for June 2025, which was $3.7 million less than the month’s target and EC$37.1 million less than the amount recorded in June 2024.  Total principal payments on debt for June 2025 was EC$2.1 million, while interest payments totalled EC$1.6 million.

“The primary balance, year-to-date, was minus EC$11.7m, which was EC$43.5m more than targeted but EC$230.5 million less than the amount recorded for January to June 2024,” said the report which explained that the overall balance, year-to-date, was minus EC$30.4 million. This, the report said, was “significantly better than the minus EC$79 million targeted for the period”.