## 1.      A Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) technical assistance

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [1.      A Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) technical assistance](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/tar/2025/english/tarea2025041-print-pdf.pdf)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/-/media/files/publications/tar/2025/english/tarea2025041-print-pdf.pdf.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/-/media/files/publications/tar/2025/english/tarea2025041-print-pdf.pdf.json)

---

### Mission overview
- Mission: CARTAC technical assistance (TA) mission on external sector statistics (ESS) to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of St. Lucia.
- Mission dates: October 28–November 1, 2024.
- Joint compilation: Balance of payments (BOP) and international investment position (IIP) compiled jointly by the CSO and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB); two ECCB staff participated in the mission.
- Focus areas: data collection issues related to trade in goods, travel exports, and the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP).
- Reviewed deliverable: available information for the revised 2023 BOP to be disseminated in December 2024.
- Implementation constraints noted: most recommendations from the previous mission pending due to competing priorities and the impact of remote work on processes.

### Trade in goods
- Confirmation: Customs and Excise Department (CED) confirmed all customs regimes are included in the trade flows provided to the CSO (outright exportation, re-exportation, home use (imports), re-importation, customs warehousing, and other procedures).
- Free zone: Free Trade Zone Management Authority (FZMA) confirmed all goods transactions in the zone are registered by the CED, including fuel imports and re-exports.
- Date-of-recording issue:
  - CED registered a significant fuel import in 2024 (date of registration) that actually occurred in 2023 (date of occurrence).
  - CSO currently uses date of registration; mission recommended recording imports at the “date of occurrence.”
  - Mission recommended attributing the fuel amount recorded in 2024 to 2023 and applying the same treatment to similar cases in prior years if applicable.
- Data handling: CED committed to restoring regular monthly provision of trade flows to the CSO; CED unable to revise transactions in their system due to limited resources.
- ECCB practice: ECCB replacing CED fuel import figures with values reported directly by fuel importers to improve consistency.
- Recommendation highlights (verbatim where provided):
  - March 2025 — CSO to confirm the applicable CED regimes (outright exportation, re-exportation, home use, re-importation, customs warehousing, other procedures) are considered in the trade database. (Responsible: CSO)
  - March 2025 — CSO to consider recording imports at the “date of occurrence.”
  - May 2025 — CSO to obtain from CED the amount of fuel imports to be adjusted for 2023 and check if there are similar situations to previous years and if necessary, perform a revision.
  - June 2025 — CSO to review exports, imports and re-exports by product and by company to ensure alignment with economic activity (2019–2023).

### Travel and tourism (visitor expenditure, yacht industry)
- Data quality concerns:
  - Stay-over visitor average daily expenditure and length of stay data require further improvement; upward bias persists.
  - SLTB incorporated valid responses from visitors staying in hotels other than all-inclusive resorts for December 2023 estimates, but bias remains.
  - The SLTB’s email/QR code Visitor Expenditure Survey (VES) has not achieved a representative sample of the visitor population since its introduction.
- Survey operations:
  - BOP surveys are administered to 115 establishments.
  - Nominal response rate in recent years been around 50 percent; declined to 46 percent in 2023.
- Yacht industry coverage: SLTB, with support from CSO and ECCB, needs to obtain better knowledge of the yacht industry by meeting yacht associations and companies offering goods and services for yachts to design surveys and include those expenses in the BOP.
- Recommendations:
  - June 2025 — SLTB, with the support of the CSO and the ECCB, to start surveying the yacht industry and its business service providers. (Responsible: SLTB, CSO and ECCB)
  - March 2025 — CSO to follow up on the request of the breakdown by motivation of the travel (Business/Personal) to the estimated total expenditure from the SLTB.
  - June 2025 — Return to in-person Visitor Expenditure Surveys (VESs), as budget allows, to accomplish a representative sample that shares the characteristics of the visitors population.
  - CSO to review the methodology employed in the face-to-face survey conducted by the SLTB in 2019 regarding representativeness and reasons for the observed discrepancy.

### Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP)
- Findings:
  - No progress on pending information from the CIP Unit.
  - CIP Unit committed to sharing information on flows and stocks of foreign escrow accounts and land sales to nonresidents in August 2023; information still pending despite additional requests.
  - Since 2020, under the Alien Landholding (Licensing) Act No.1 of 2020, CIP has responsibility for the application process for foreigners' licenses to buy property in St. Lucia, previously the duty of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
- CIP modalities and legislative detail:
  - Investment mainly through the National Economic Fund (NEF) or real estate investment; the real estate project option accounts for 75 percent of the financial resources raised by the CIP.
  - As of July 2024, minimum legislative price of qualifying investment to be paid to any government fund, government project or private development project set at US$240,000.
- Recommended follow up:
  - April 2025 — Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit on the flows and stocks of the foreign escrow accounts by the real estate developers under the CIP program. (Responsible: CSO)
  - March 2025 — Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit on the transactions of land sales for 2021–2023.

### Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and International Business Companies (IBCs)
- BPM7 migration: recommendation to identify potential Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) will be included in the work plan for migration to BPM7.
- IBC statistics and concerns:
  - IRD indicated 3,884 international business companies (IBCs) were incorporated in St. Lucia at the end of 2022.
  - IRD provided values for gross income by foreign revenue classified by economic sector for these companies in 2022; clarifications requested because values seemed too low given the number of companies.
- SPE characteristics (per the Guidelines):
  - Legally registered entities with minimal employment (up to five employees), little or no physical presence/production, directly or indirectly controlled by nonresidents, transacting primarily with nonresidents.
- Recommended actions:
  - December 2025 — Follow up on clarification requested to the IRD regarding the gross income by foreign revenue of the IBCs, the list of registered agents and assigned entities.
  - December 2025 — Begin initial steps to identify and collect available quarterly cross-border transactions and positions of the IBCs and include them in ESS.

### 2023 revised BOP results and data issues
- Revision outcome:
  - Revised 2023 BOP estimates compared with those published in March 2024 were reviewed.
  - Net errors and omissions (NEOs) for 2023 changed from negative EC$1 million (data disseminated in March 2024) to negative EC$68 million at the end of the mission — an increase of 1.0 percentage point of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
  - The March 2024 estimate was based on administrative data; the December 2024 estimate will incorporate survey data, including for the DTCs. Administrative data coverage was incomplete in March.
- Data sources and transparency recommendations:
  - Mission recommended ECCB include more detailed explanatory footnotes to the BOP and IIP estimates published each March to inform on available coverage for administrative sources (mainly deposit-taking Corporations (DTCs) and general government).
  - February 2025 — Disseminate BOP and IIP, metadata and quarterly indicators on the CSO website.
  - March 2025 — ECCB to consider incorporating more detailed explanatory footnotes to the BOP and IIP estimates published each March to inform on the available coverage for administrative sources—mainly deposit-taking Corporations (DTCs) and general government.

### Institutional environment and coordination
- Legal basis: 2001 Statistics Act of St. Lucia (Cap 17.12, Vol. 19) is the legal basis for data collection, processing and dissemination by the CSO.
- Strategic framework: National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) ongoing initiative; implementation has been slow. CSO expected to serve as central hub.
- Coordination recommendations:
  - With support of high-level authorities, strengthen formal collaboration among stakeholders (including the CED and the SLTB) to improve data quality for compilation of BOP and IIP.
  - Analyze the list of establishments in the business register in line with their expected contribution to main BOP transactions.
  - Adopt transparent handling of revisions and include footnotes in preliminary BOP tables to clarify differences between March and December data and availability of administrative sources.
  - March 2025 — Analyze the list of establishments included in the business register, in line with their expected contribution to the main transactions of the BOP.

*Source: CARTAC technical assistance mission to the Central Statistics Office of St. Lucia, October 28–November 1, 2024.*

### 17. Reviewing the trade data, the mission found a discrepancy in total exports and imports reported by the CSO

### Trade data discrepancy: exports, imports, and re-exports
- Finding: The trade data categorized by the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) available on ECCB’s website does not align with the trade data by partner countries provided by the CSO.
- Table 2 — Exports, Imports, and Re-exports (EC$ million):
  - 2023 — By Partner Country vs By SITC:
    - Exports: 94.2; 104.6
    - Imports: 2,271.1; 2,417.9
    - Re-exports: 102.9; 110.5
  - 2022 — By Partner Country vs By SITC:
    - Exports: 107.8; 107.6
    - Imports: 2,201.6; 2,253.0
    - Re-exports: 106.9; 105.9
- Importance: It is important to guarantee the consistency of published numbers for exports and imports notwithstanding the breakdown of the data.
- Recommendations (verbatim emphasis):
  - CSO to confirm the applicable CED regimes (outright exportation, re-exportation, home use, re-importation, customs warehousing, other procedures) are considered in the trade database.
  - CSO to make sure the total exports and imports by partner countries are consistent with total exports and imports by the SITC.
  - CSO to review exports, imports, and re-exports by product and by company to ensure alignment with economic activity (2019–2023).
  - CSO to obtain from CED the amount of fuel imports to be adjusted for 2023 and check if there are similar cases to previous years and if necessary, perform a revision.

### Fuel imports, exports, and re-exports — data granularity and timing
- Finding: Further review of granular data on fuel imports, exports, and re-exports, categorized by product and company, is needed to:
  - Better understand products and companies reflected in customs data from 2019 to 2023.
  - Relate customs data to economic activity and fuel prices.
  - Ensure consistency for comprehensive macroeconomic analysis.
- Guidance: The BPM6 Compilation Guide (paragraphs 3.35 and 3.39) recommends employing the accrual basis for determining the time of recording of BOP transactions (recording flows at the time economic value is created, transformed, exchanged, transferred, or extinguished).

### Travel credits — Visitor Expenditure Survey (VES) quality and representativeness
- Findings on VES performance:
  - Since the pandemic, the SLTB conducts the VES by email or using QR codes; response rate is low and monitoring of sample representativeness is limited.
  - In 2023, the expenditure sample size represented just 1.3 percent of the total stay over arrivals.
  - In 2023, SLTB sent out 27,691 emails and a little less than 18 percent of those who received the email replied to the survey.
  - The SLTB incorporated valid surveys previously disregarded due to missing information for the December 2023 estimates.
  - Large sample sizes reduce sampling error (referencing paragraph 2.27 BPM6).
- Table 3 — Daily Expenditure and Length of Stay Averages (US$/Day):
  - United States: 2022 — 381.8; 2023 — 447.6; 2022 Length — 7.4; 2023 Length — 6.9
  - United Kingdom: 2022 — 294.4; 2023 — 315.5; 2022 Length — 11.4; 2023 Length — 10.7
  - Caribbean: 2022 — 287.9; 2023 — 266.0; 2022 Length — 8.7; 2023 Length — 6.4
  - Canada: 2022 — 312.4; 2023 — 338.5; 2022 Length — 10.4; 2023 Length — 9.0
  - Other Europe: 2022 — 272.0; 2023 — 321.8; 2022 Length — 10.8; 2023 Length — 9.4
  - Other World: 2022 — 274.0; 2023 — 265.1; 2022 Length — 12.2; 2023 Length — 10.1
  - Total: 2022 — 345.8; 2023 — 376.4; 2022 Length — 8.7; 2023 Length — 7.9
- Mirror-data assessment:
  - The mission’s exercise suggests travel exports could be overestimated by as much as 14.0 percent in 2023.
  - For U.S. visitors, the VES total expenditure might be overestimated by 24.8 percent in 2023; overall VES total expenditure overestimated by 14.0 percent.
  - 2019 reference: SIAT reported average expenditure of U.S. visitors as US$1,455; SLTB data indicated average of US$2,354.
- Recommendations (verbatim emphasis):
  - SLTB, with CSO and ECCB support, to start surveying the yacht industry and its business service providers to include yacht-related expenses in the BOP.
  - CSO to follow up on the request for the breakdown by motivation of travel (Business/Personal) for the estimated total expenditure from the SLTB.
  - Return to in-person VES, as budget allows, to accomplish a representative sample that shares the characteristics of the visitor population.
  - CSO to review the methodology employed in the face-to-face survey conducted by the SLTB in 2019 regarding representativeness and reasons for the observed discrepancy.

### Citizenship by Investment (CIP) — details and recommendations
- Findings reiterated:
  - Real estate project option accounts for 75 percent of the financial resources raised by the CIP.
  - No progress on pending information from the CIP Unit; monthly flows and stocks of the foreign escrow accounts were not shared with the CSO as committed; additional requests for land sales to nonresidents remain outstanding.
- Recommendation (verbatim):
  - Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit for flows and stocks of the foreign escrow accounts by real estate developers under the CIP program.
  - Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit for transactions of land sales for 2021–2023.

### Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and International Business Companies (IBCs) — findings and recommendations
- Findings reiterated:
  - Identification of potential SPEs will be included in the work program for migration to BPM7.
  - IRD indicated 3,884 IBCs were incorporated in St. Lucia at the end of 2022; IRD provided values for gross income by foreign revenue by sector for these companies in 2022 but clarifications were requested as values seemed too low.
- Recommendations:
  - Follow up on clarification requested to the IRD regarding gross income by foreign revenue of the IBCs, the list of registered agents and assigned entities.
  - Begin initial steps to identify and collect available quarterly cross-border transactions and positions of the IBCs and include them in ESS.

### 2023 Revised Balance of Payments (BOP)
- Net errors and omissions:
  - With information received, Net Errors and Omissions (NEOs) went from negative EC$1 million published in March 2024 to negative EC$68 million at the end of the mission (an increase of 1.0 percentage point of GDP).
- Table 4 — Net Errors and Omissions 2016–2023 (Published vs. Revised) (EC$ Million; Percentage of GDP; % of current account credits and debits):
  - 2016: 95.0; 1.9%; 1.7% — 95.0; 1.9%; 1.7%
  - 2017: (31.7); (0.6%); (0.5%) — (31.7); (0.6%); (0.5%)
  - 2018: 47.8; 0.9%; 0.7% — 47.8; 0.9%; 0.7%
  - 2019: (192.2); (3.4%); (2.8%) — (192.2); (3.4%); (2.8%)
  - 2020: 121.5; 3.0%; 3.1% — 121.5; 3.0%; 3.1%
  - 2021: 100.8; 2.0%; 2.0% — 82.0; 1.6%; 1.6%
  - 2022: (10.1); (0.2%); (0.1%) — (11.0); (0.2%); (0.1%)
  - 2023: (0.7); 0.0%; 0.0% — (68.0); (1.0%); (0.8%)
- Recommendation:
  - ECCB to consider incorporating more detailed explanatory footnotes to the BOP and IIP estimates published each March to inform on the available coverage for administrative sources—mainly DTCs and general government.

*IMF | CARTAC St. Lucia — Extracted content from the specified chapter/section*

### APPENDIX II. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS 2021–2023, REVISED VS. PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

### Current account and components (selected figures and diffs)
- Current account:
  - 2021 Published (597.7) Revised (569.5) Diff. 28.2
  - 2022 Published (181.1) Revised (207.6) Diff. (26.5)
  - 2023 Published (122.5) Revised (117.8) Diff. 4.7
- 1.cr. Credit:
  - 2021 2,251.7 2,251.7 (0.0)
  - 2022 3,799.7 3,801.3 1.6
  - 2023 4,124.5 4,184.8 60.2
- 1.dr. Debit:
  - 2021 2,849.4 2,821.2 (28.2)
  - 2022 3,980.8 4,008.9 28.1
  - 2023 4,247.1 4,302.6 55.5

- 1.A Goods and services:
  - 2021 Published (488.7) Revised (491.7) Diff. (3.0)
  - 2022 Published 274.5 Revised 260.9 Diff. (13.6)
  - 2023 Published 380.7 Revised 328.0 Diff. (52.7)
  - 1.A.a Goods (2023): Published (1,776.6) Revised (1,642.6) Diff. 134.1
  - 1.A.b Services (2023): Published 2,157.3 Revised 1,970.5 Diff. (186.7)
    - 1.A.b.4 Travel (2023): Published 3,099.7 Revised 3,071.6 Diff. (28.1)

### Capital account and net lending/borrowing (current + capital)
- Capital account:
  - 2021 81.4 81.3 (0.0)
  - 2022 119.3 119.3 (0.0)
  - 2023 112.1 99.6 (12.5)
- Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (balance from current and capital account):
  - 2021 (516.4) (488.2) 28.2
  - 2022 (61.7) (88.3) (26.5)
  - 2023 (10.4) (18.2) 7.8

### Financial account and major components (selected lines)
- Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (balance from financial account):
  - 2021 (415.6) (406.6) 9.0
  - 2022 (71.9) (98.8) (27.0)
  - 2023 (11.1) (86.0) (74.9)
- 3.1 Direct investment (Totals):
  - 2021 (341.5) (292.3) 49.2
  - 2022 (139.2) (208.9) (69.7)
  - 2023 (382.2) (414.3) (32.0)
- 3.2 Portfolio investment (Totals):
  - 2021 222.2 165.4 (56.7)
  - 2022 188.5 212.3 23.8
  - 2023 (45.4) (129.4) (84.0)
- 3.4 Other investment (Totals):
  - 2021 (715.2) (698.6) 16.6
  - 2022 (8.5) 10.3 18.9
  - 2023 251.1 291.8 40.6
  - 3.4.2 Currency and deposits (2023): 547.4 560.4 13.0
  - 3.4.3 Loans (2023): (304.0) (291.2) 12.7
  - 3.5 Reserve assets:
    - 2021 417.3 417.3 (0.0)
    - 2022 (110.3) (110.3) (0.0)
    - 2023 166.5 166.0 (0.5)

### Net errors and omissions (selected)
- Net errors and omissions:
  - 2021 100.8 81.6 (19.2)
  - 2022 (10.1) (10.6) (0.4)
  - 2023 0.7 (67.8) (67.1)

*Revised as of November 1, 2024. Sources: ECCB and CSO.*

### 1.      A Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) technical assistance

### 1.      A Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) technical assistance

### Mission overview
- Mission: CARTAC technical assistance (TA) mission on external sector statistics (ESS) to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of St. Lucia.
- Mission dates: October 28–November 1, 2024.
- Joint compilation: Balance of payments (BOP) and international investment position (IIP) compiled jointly by the CSO and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB); two ECCB staff participated in the mission.
- Focus areas: data collection issues related to trade in goods, travel exports, and the Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP).
- Reviewed deliverable: available information for the revised 2023 BOP to be disseminated in December 2024.
- Implementation constraints noted: most recommendations from the previous mission pending due to competing priorities and the impact of remote work on processes.

### Trade in goods
- Confirmation: Customs and Excise Department (CED) confirmed all customs regimes are included in the trade flows provided to the CSO (outright exportation, re-exportation, home use (imports), re-importation, customs warehousing, and other procedures).
- Free zone: Free Trade Zone Management Authority (FZMA) confirmed all goods transactions in the zone are registered by the CED, including fuel imports and re-exports.
- Date-of-recording issue:
  - CED registered a significant fuel import in 2024 (date of registration) that actually occurred in 2023 (date of occurrence).
  - CSO currently uses date of registration; mission recommended recording imports at the “date of occurrence.”
  - Mission recommended attributing the fuel amount recorded in 2024 to 2023 and applying the same treatment to similar cases in prior years if applicable.
- Data handling: CED committed to restoring regular monthly provision of trade flows to the CSO; CED unable to revise transactions in their system due to limited resources.
- ECCB practice: ECCB replacing CED fuel import figures with values reported directly by fuel importers to improve consistency.

### Travel and tourism (visitor expenditure, yacht industry)
- Data quality concerns:
  - Stay-over visitor average daily expenditure and length of stay data require further improvement; upward bias persists.
  - SLTB incorporated valid responses from visitors staying in hotels other than all-inclusive resorts for December 2023 estimates, but bias remains.
  - The SLTB’s email/QR code Visitor Expenditure Survey (VES) has not achieved a representative sample of the visitor population since its introduction.
- Institutional changes: new tourism legislation promulgated and a new CEO assumed office at the SLTB.
- Yacht industry coverage: SLTB, with support from CSO and ECCB, needs to obtain better knowledge of the yacht industry by meeting yacht associations and companies offering goods and services for yachts to design surveys and include those expenses in the BOP.
- Survey operations:
  - BOP surveys are administered to 115 establishments.
  - Nominal response rate in recent years been around 50 percent; declined to 46 percent in 2023.

### Citizenship by Investment Program (CIP)
- Pending information: No progress on pending information from the CIP Unit.
- Commitments and delays:
  - CIP Unit committed to sharing information on flows and stocks of foreign escrow accounts and land sales to nonresidents in August 2023; information still pending despite additional requests.
- Institutional responsibility:
  - Since 2020, under the Alien Landholding (Licensing) Act No.1 of 2020, CIP has responsibility for the application process for foreigners' licenses to buy property in St. Lucia, previously the duty of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
- Recommended follow up: continue requests to CIP Unit on flows and stocks of foreign escrow accounts and on transactions of land sales for 2021–2023.

### Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and International Business Companies (IBCs)
- BPM7 migration: recommendation to identify potential Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) will be included in the work plan for migration to BPM7.
- IBC statistics:
  - IRD indicated 3,884 international business companies (IBCs) were incorporated in St. Lucia at the end of 2022.
  - IRD provided values for gross income by foreign revenue classified by economic sector for these companies in 2022; clarifications requested because values seemed too low given the number of companies.
- Recommended actions:
  - Follow up with IRD for clarification on gross income by foreign revenue, list of registered agents, and assigned entities.
  - Begin initial steps to identify and collect available quarterly cross-border transactions and positions of the IBCs and include them in ESS.

### 2023 revised BOP results and data issues
- Revision outcome:
  - Revised 2023 BOP estimates compared with those published in March 2024 were reviewed.
  - Current response rate to surveys is low; compilers will continue incorporating data to the BOP and IIP.
  - Net errors and omissions (NEOs) for 2023 changed from negative EC$1 million (data disseminated in March 2024) to negative EC$68 million at the end of the mission — an increase of 1.0 percentage point of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- Data sources and transparency:
  - Mission recommended ECCB include more detailed explanatory footnotes to the BOP and IIP estimates published each March to inform on available coverage for administrative sources (mainly deposit-taking Corporations (DTCs) and general government).
  - Mission recommended CSO disseminate BOP and IIP, metadata and quarterly indicators on the CSO website (these items currently available on the ECCB website).

### Institutional environment and coordination
- Legal basis: 2001 Statistics Act of St. Lucia (Cap 17.12, Vol. 19) is the legal basis for data collection, processing and dissemination by the CSO.
- Strategic framework: National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) ongoing initiative; implementation has been slow. CSO expected to serve as central hub.
- Recommendations:
  - With support of high-level authorities, strengthen formal collaboration among stakeholders (including the CED and the SLTB) to improve data quality for compilation of BOP and IIP.
  - Analyze the list of establishments in the business register in line with their expected contribution to main BOP transactions.
  - Adopt transparent handling of revisions and include footnotes in preliminary BOP tables to clarify differences between March and December data and availability of administrative sources.

### Priority recommendations and action plan (selected items and target dates)
- Priority recommendations (selected, verbatim targets and responsible institutions):
  - March 2025 — CSO to confirm the applicable CED regimes (outright exportation, re-exportation, home use, re-importation, customs warehousing, other procedures) are considered in the trade database. (Responsible: CSO)
  - April 2025 — Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit on the flows and stocks of the foreign escrow accounts by the real estate developers under the CIP program. (Responsible: CSO)
  - June 2025 — SLTB, with the support of the CSO and the ECCB, to start surveying the yacht industry and its business service providers. (Responsible: SLTB, CSO and ECCB)
- Additional prioritized actions and target completion dates (verbatim):
  - February 2025 — CSO to make sure the total exports and imports by partner countries are consistent with total exports and imports by the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC).
  - March 2025 — CSO to consider recording imports at the “date of occurrence.”
  - March 2025 — CSO to follow up on the request of the breakdown by motivation of the travel (Business/Personal) to the estimated total expenditure from the SLTB.
  - March 2025 — Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit on the transactions of land sales for 2021–2023.
  - May 2025 — CSO to obtain from CED the amount of fuel imports to be adjusted for 2023 and check if there are similar situations to previous years and if necessary, perform a revision.
  - June 2025 — Return to in-person Visitor Expenditure Surveys (VESs), as budget allows, to accomplish a representative sample that shares the characteristics of the visitors population.
  - June 2025 — CSO to review exports, imports and re-exports by product and by company to ensure alignment with economic activity (2019–2023).
  - December 2025 — Follow up on clarification requested to the IRD regarding the gross income by foreign revenue of the IBCs, the list of registered agents and assigned entities.
  - December 2025 — Begin initial steps to identify and collect available quarterly cross-border transactions and positions of the IBCs and include them in ESS.
  - March 2025 — Analyze the list of establishments included in the business register, in line with their expected contribution to the main transactions of the BOP.
  - February 2025 — Disseminate BOP and IIP, metadata and quarterly indicators on the CSO website.
  - March 2025 — ECCB to consider incorporating more detailed explanatory footnotes to the BOP and IIP estimates published each March to inform on the available coverage for administrative sources—mainly deposit-taking Corporations (DTCs) and general government.

*Source: CARTAC technical assistance mission to the Central Statistics Office of St. Lucia, October 28–November 1, 2024.*

### 17.        Reviewing the trade data, the mission found a discrepancy in total exports and imports

### 17. Reviewing the trade data, the mission found a discrepancy in total exports and imports reported by the CSO

### Trade data discrepancy: exports, imports, and re-exports
- Finding: The trade data categorized by the Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) available on ECCB’s website does not align with the trade data by partner countries provided by the CSO.
- Table 2 — Exports, Imports, and Re-exports (EC$ million):
  - 2023 — By Partner Country vs By SITC:
    - Exports: 94.2; 104.6
    - Imports: 2,271.1; 2,417.9
    - Re-exports: 102.9; 110.5
  - 2022 — By Partner Country vs By SITC:
    - Exports: 107.8; 107.6
    - Imports: 2,201.6; 2,253.0
    - Re-exports: 106.9; 105.9
- Importance: It is important to guarantee the consistency of published numbers for exports and imports notwithstanding the breakdown of the data.

### Fuel imports, exports, and re-exports — data granularity and timing
- Finding: Further review of granular data on fuel imports, exports, and re-exports, categorized by product and company, is needed to:
  - Better understand products and companies reflected in customs data from 2019 to 2023.
  - Relate customs data to economic activity and fuel prices.
  - Ensure consistency for comprehensive macroeconomic analysis.
- Guidance: The BPM6 Compilation Guide (paragraphs 3.35 and 3.39) recommends employing the accrual basis for determining the time of recording of BOP transactions (recording flows at the time economic value is created, transformed, exchanged, transferred, or extinguished).
- Recommendations:
  - CSO to confirm the applicable CED regimes (outright exportation, re-exportation, home use, re-importation, customs warehousing, other procedures) are considered in the trade database.
  - CSO to make sure the total exports and imports by partner countries are consistent with total exports and imports by the SITC.
  - CSO to consider recording imports at the “date of occurrence.”
  - CSO to review exports, imports, and re-exports by product and by company to ensure alignment with economic activity (2019–2023).
  - CSO to obtain from CED the amount of fuel imports to be adjusted for 2023 and check if there are similar cases to previous years and if necessary, perform a revision.

### Travel credits — Visitor Expenditure Survey (VES) quality and representativeness
- Findings:
  - Since the pandemic, the SLTB conducts the VES by email or using QR codes; response rate is low and monitoring of sample representativeness is limited.
  - In 2023, the expenditure sample size represented just 1.3 percent of the total stay over arrivals.
  - In 2023, SLTB sent out 27,691 emails and a little less than 18 percent of those who received the email replied to the survey.
  - The SLTB incorporated valid surveys previously disregarded due to missing information for the December 2023 estimates.
  - Large sample sizes reduce sampling error (referencing paragraph 2.27 BPM6).
- Table 3 — Daily Expenditure and Length of Stay Averages (US$/Day):
  - Average Daily Expenditure (US$) and Average Length of Stay (Days):
    - United States: 2022 — 381.8; 2023 — 447.6; 2022 Length — 7.4; 2023 Length — 6.9
    - United Kingdom: 2022 — 294.4; 2023 — 315.5; 2022 Length — 11.4; 2023 Length — 10.7
    - Caribbean: 2022 — 287.9; 2023 — 266.0; 2022 Length — 8.7; 2023 Length — 6.4
    - Canada: 2022 — 312.4; 2023 — 338.5; 2022 Length — 10.4; 2023 Length — 9.0
    - Other Europe: 2022 — 272.0; 2023 — 321.8; 2022 Length — 10.8; 2023 Length — 9.4
    - Other World: 2022 — 274.0; 2023 — 265.1; 2022 Length — 12.2; 2023 Length — 10.1
    - Total: 2022 — 345.8; 2023 — 376.4; 2022 Length — 8.7; 2023 Length — 7.9
- Assessment using mirror data:
  - The mission’s exercise suggests travel exports could be overestimated by as much as 14.0 percent in 2023.
  - For U.S. visitors, the VES total expenditure might be overestimated by 24.8 percent in 2023; overall VES total expenditure overestimated by 14.0 percent.
  - 2019 reference: SIAT reported average expenditure of U.S. visitors as US$1,455; SLTB data indicated average of US$2,354.
- Recommendations:
  - SLTB, with CSO and ECCB support, to start surveying the yacht industry and its business service providers to include yacht-related expenses in the BOP.
  - CSO to follow up on the request for the breakdown by motivation of travel (Business/Personal) for the estimated total expenditure from the SLTB.
  - Return to in-person VES, as budget allows, to accomplish a representative sample that shares the characteristics of the visitor population.
  - CSO to review the methodology employed in the face-to-face survey conducted by the SLTB in 2019 regarding representativeness and reasons for the observed discrepancy.

### Citizenship by Investment (CIP)
- Findings:
  - CIP modalities: investment mainly through the National Economic Fund (NEF) or real estate investment; the real estate project option accounts for 75 percent of the financial resources raised by the CIP.
  - No progress on pending information from the CIP Unit: monthly flows and stocks of the foreign escrow accounts were not shared with the CSO as committed; additional requests for land sales to nonresidents remain outstanding.
  - As of July 2024, minimum legislative price of qualifying investment to be paid to any government fund, government project or private development project set at US$240,000.
- Recommendations:
  - Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit for flows and stocks of the foreign escrow accounts by real estate developers under the CIP program.
  - Follow up on the request to the CIP Unit for transactions of land sales for 2021–2023.

### Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) and International Business Companies (IBCs)
- Findings:
  - Identification of potential SPEs will be included in the work program for migration to BPM7.
  - IBCs considered as SPEs need identification to properly compile cross-border transactions and positions and include them in the ESS.
  - SPEs characteristics per the Guidelines: legally registered entities with minimal employment (up to five employees), little or no physical presence/production, directly or indirectly controlled by nonresidents, transacting primarily with nonresidents.
  - IRD indicated 3,884 IBCs were incorporated in St. Lucia at the end of 2022; IRD provided values for gross income by foreign revenue by sector for these companies in 2022 but clarifications were requested as values seemed too low.
- Recommendations:
  - Follow up on clarification requested to the IRD regarding gross income by foreign revenue of the IBCs, the list of registered agents and assigned entities.
  - Begin initial steps to identify and collect available quarterly cross-border transactions and positions of the IBCs and include them in ESS.

### 2023 Revised Balance of Payments (BOP)
- Findings:
  - Revised 2023 BOP estimates compared with those published in March 2024 were reviewed.
  - With information received, Net Errors and Omissions (NEOs) went from negative EC$1 million published in March 2024 to negative EC$68 million at the end of the mission (an increase of 1.0 percentage point of GDP).
  - The March 2024 estimate was based on administrative data; the December 2024 estimate will incorporate survey data, including for the DTCs. Administrative data coverage was incomplete in March.
- Table 4 — Net Errors and Omissions 2016–2023 (Published vs. Revised):
  - Published March 2024 vs Revised as of November 1, 2024 (EC$ Million; Percentage of GDP; % of current account credits and debits):
    - 2016: 95.0; 1.9%; 1.7% — 95.0; 1.9%; 1.7%
    - 2017: (31.7); (0.6%); (0.5%) — (31.7); (0.6%); (0.5%)
    - 2018: 47.8; 0.9%; 0.7% — 47.8; 0.9%; 0.7%
    - 2019: (192.2); (3.4%); (2.8%) — (192.2); (3.4%); (2.8%)
    - 2020: 121.5; 3.0%; 3.1% — 121.5; 3.0%; 3.1%
    - 2021: 100.8; 2.0%; 2.0% — 82.0; 1.6%; 1.6%
    - 2022: (10.1); (0.2%); (0.1%) — (11.0); (0.2%); (0.1%)
    - 2023: (0.7); 0.0%; 0.0% — (68.0); (1.0%); (0.8%)
- Recommendation:
  - ECCB to consider incorporating more detailed explanatory footnotes to the BOP and IIP estimates published each March to inform on the available coverage for administrative sources—mainly DTCs and general government.

*IMF | CARTAC St. Lucia — Extracted content from the specified chapter/section*

### APPENDIX II. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS 2021–2023, REVISED VS. PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

### APPENDIX II. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS 2021–2023, REVISED VS. PUBLISHED MARCH 2024

### Current account and components
- Current account: 2021 Published (597.7) Revised (569.5) Diff. 28.2; 2022 Published (181.1) Revised (207.6) Diff. (26.5); 2023 Published (122.5) Revised (117.8) Diff. 4.7
- 1.cr. Credit: 2021 2,251.7 2,251.7 (0.0); 2022 3,799.7 3,801.3 1.6; 2023 4,124.5 4,184.8 60.2
- 1.dr. Debit: 2021 2,849.4 2,821.2 (28.2); 2022 3,980.8 4,008.9 28.1; 2023 4,247.1 4,302.6 55.5

- 1.A Goods and services: 2021 Published (488.7) Revised (491.7) Diff. (3.0); 2022 Published 274.5 Revised 260.9 Diff. (13.6); 2023 Published 380.7 Revised 328.0 Diff. (52.7)
  - 1.A.cr. Credit: 2021 1,919.0 1,919.0 (0.0); 2022 3,499.1 3,499.8 0.7; 2023 3,821.6 3,831.3 9.7
  - 1.A.dr. Debit: 2021 2,407.8 2,410.8 3.0; 2022 3,224.6 3,238.9 14.3; 2023 3,441.0 3,503.4 62.4

  - 1.A.a Goods: 2021 (1,359.9) (1,359.9) 0.0; 2022 (1,644.0) (1,644.0) (0.0); 2023 (1,776.6) (1,642.6) 134.1
    - 1.A.a.cr. Credit: 2021 232.7 232.7 0.0; 2022 366.5 366.5 0.0; 2023 379.0 388.9 9.9
    - 1.A.a.dr. Debit: 2021 1,592.6 1,592.6 (0.0); 2022 2,010.5 2,010.5 (0.0); 2023 2,155.6 2,031.4 (124.1)

  - 1.A.b Services: 2021 871.2 868.1 (3.0); 2022 1,918.5 1,904.9 (13.6); 2023 2,157.3 1,970.5 (186.7)
    - 1.A.b.cr. Credit: 2021 1,686.4 1,686.3 (0.0); 2022 3,132.6 3,133.3 0.7; 2023 3,442.7 3,442.5 (0.2)
    - 1.A.b.dr. Debit: 2021 815.2 818.2 3.0; 2022 1,214.1 1,228.4 14.3; 2023 1,285.4 1,471.9 186.5

    - 1.A.b.4 Travel: 2021 1,471.0 1,471.0 (0.0); 2022 2,807.5 2,807.4 (0.0); 2023 3,099.7 3,071.6 (28.1)
      - 1.A.b.4.cr. Credit: 2021 1,536.5 1,536.5 (0.0); 2022 2,942.7 2,942.7 0.0; 2023 3,242.3 3,240.8 (1.5)
      - 1.A.b.4.dr. Debit: 2021 65.5 65.5 (0.0); 2022 135.2 135.2 (0.0); 2023 142.6 169.2 26.6

- 1.B Primary income: 2021 (202.9) (171.7) 31.2; 2022 (531.3) (544.3) (13.0); 2023 (581.8) (537.6) 44.2
  - 1.B.cr. Credit: 2021 110.4 110.4 0.0; 2022 106.9 107.7 0.9; 2023 104.6 134.1 29.5
  - 1.B.dr. Debit: 2021 313.3 282.1 (31.2); 2022 638.2 652.0 13.8; 2023 686.4 671.6 (14.8)

- 1.C Secondary income: 2021 93.9 93.9 0.0; 2022 75.7 75.7 (0.0); 2023 78.6 91.7 13.1
  - 1.C.cr. Credit: 2021 222.2 222.2 0.0; 2022 193.8 193.8 (0.0); 2023 198.3 219.3 21.1
  - 1.C.dr. Debit: 2021 128.3 128.3 (0.0); 2022 118.1 118.1 0.0; 2023 119.7 127.6 8.0

### Capital account and net lending/borrowing (current + capital)
- Capital account: 2021 81.4 81.3 (0.0); 2022 119.3 119.3 (0.0); 2023 112.1 99.6 (12.5)
  - 2.cr. Credit: same as capital account values above
  - 2.dr. Debit: - - - (no entries)

- Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (balance from current and capital account):
  - 2021 (516.4) (488.2) 28.2
  - 2022 (61.7) (88.3) (26.5)
  - 2023 (10.4) (18.2) 7.8

### Financial account and major components
- Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (balance from financial account):
  - 2021 (415.6) (406.6) 9.0
  - 2022 (71.9) (98.8) (27.0)
  - 2023 (11.1) (86.0) (74.9)

- 3.1 Direct investment: 2021 (341.5) (292.3) 49.2; 2022 (139.2) (208.9) (69.7); 2023 (382.2) (414.3) (32.0)
  - 3.1.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 (47.5) (47.5) (0.0); 2022 (50.2) (48.7) 1.5; 2023 (7.7) (81.1) (73.4)
  - 3.1.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 294.0 244.8 (49.2); 2022 89.0 160.2 71.2; 2023 374.6 333.2 (41.4)

- 3.2 Portfolio investment:
  - Totals: 2021 222.2 165.4 (56.7); 2022 188.5 212.3 23.8; 2023 (45.4) (129.4) (84.0)
  - 3.2.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 230.7 173.9 (56.7); 2022 233.6 257.4 23.8; 2023 96.7 14.0 (82.7)
  - 3.2.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 8.5 8.5 0.0; 2022 45.1 45.1 0.0; 2023 142.0 143.4 1.4

- 3.4 Other investment:
  - Totals: 2021 (715.2) (698.6) 16.6; 2022 (8.5) 10.3 18.9; 2023 251.1 291.8 40.6
  - 3.4.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 (228.5) (191.1) 37.5; 2022 264.6 263.6 (0.9); 2023 602.8 604.2 1.4
  - 3.4.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 486.7 507.6 20.9; 2022 273.1 253.3 (19.8); 2023 351.6 312.4 (39.2)

  - 3.4.2 Currency and deposits: 2021 (327.9) (327.9) 0.0; 2022 107.5 113.6 6.1; 2023 547.4 560.4 13.0
    - 3.4.2.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 (294.9) (294.9) (0.0); 2022 294.0 300.1 6.1; 2023 569.3 590.5 21.2
    - 3.4.2.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 33.0 33.0 0.0; 2022 186.5 186.5 (0.0); 2023 22.0 30.1 8.2

  - 3.4.3 Loans: 2021 (339.6) (339.6) (0.0); 2022 (54.6) (61.8) (7.3); 2023 (304.0) (291.2) 12.7
    - 3.4.3.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 (5.9) (5.9) 0.0; 2022 (5.3) (12.6) (7.3); 2023 42.2 45.5 3.2
    - 3.4.3.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 333.7 333.7 0.0; 2022 49.2 49.2 (0.0); 2023 346.2 336.7 (9.5)

  - 3.4.4 Insurance, pension, and standardized guarantee schemes: 2021 9.8 9.8 (0.0); 2022 16.3 11.7 (4.5); 2023 (20.8) 3.5 24.3
    - 3.4.4.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 4.6 4.6 0.0; 2022 17.4 15.3 (2.1); 2023 (19.6) 1.4 20.9
    - 3.4.4.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 (5.2) (5.2) (0.0); 2022 1.1 3.5 2.4; 2023 1.2 (2.2) (3.4)

  - 3.4.5 Trade credit and advances: 2021 (45.1) (45.1) (0.0); 2022 (23.3) (3.9) 19.3; 2023 (12.2) (1.6) 10.5
    - 3.4.5.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 (0.2) (0.2) 0.0; 2022 1.8 1.8 (0.0); 2023 1.9 (1.4) (3.2)
    - 3.4.5.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 44.9 44.9 (0.0); 2022 25.0 5.7 (19.3); 2023 14.0 0.3 (13.7)

  - 3.4.6 Other accounts receivable/payable: 2021 65.1 81.6 16.6; 2022 (54.5) (49.2) 5.3; 2023 40.7 20.8 (19.9)
    - 3.4.6.A Net acquisition of financial assets: 2021 67.8 105.3 37.5; 2022 (43.3) (40.9) 2.4; 2023 9.0 (31.8) (40.8)
    - 3.4.6.L Net incurrence of liabilities: 2021 2.8 23.6 20.9; 2022 11.2 8.3 (2.9); 2023 (31.7) (52.6) (20.9)

  - 3.4.7 Special drawing rights (Net incurrence of liabilities): 2021 77.5 77.5 (0.0); 2022 0.0 0.0 0.0; 2023 0.0 0.0 0.0

- 3.5 Reserve assets: 2021 417.3 417.3 (0.0); 2022 (110.3) (110.3) (0.0); 2023 166.5 166.0 (0.5)

### Net errors and omissions
- Net errors and omissions: 2021 100.8 81.6 (19.2); 2022 (10.1) (10.6) (0.4); 2023 0.7 (67.8) (67.1)

*Revised as of November 1, 2024. Sources: ECCB and CSO.*

---


_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/tar/2025/english/tarea2025041-print-pdf.pdf_