Antigua and Barbuda Is the Caribbean’s Fastest-Growing Economy

What’s the fastest-growing economy in the Caribbean? According to a new report from the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the answer is simple: Antigua and Barbuda. 

The twin-island country is projected to see its GDP grow by 6.3 percent in 2024, according to the UN ECLAC’s “Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean,” an annual report the Chile-based agency compiles obtained by Caribbean Journal. 

That 6.3 percent number is higher than any other country in the Caribbean – and it’s projected to continue to be strong in 2025, with a forecasted GDP growth rate of 4.8 percent next year. 

Antigua and Barbuda’s number even tops the longtime regional economic giant in the Dominican Republic, which is projected for 5.2 percent growth this year. 

The country is followed St Vincent and the Grenadines (4.7 percent) and Dominica at 4.6 percent in the top three. 

The data represents a very strong signal of the strength of the Antiguan economy, buoyed by surging tourism arrivals in 2024 that are projected to break a new record, local tourism officials told CJ. 
Through July, the country reported to CJ that it had received 205,004 stayover arrivals, a 16 percent growth rate compared to 2023. More crucially, that represents an 11 percent jump over the same period in 2019, the previous banner year for the destination. 

That data was shared by Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority CEO Colin C. James during a briefing at the State of the Tourism Industry conference in the Cayman Islands last week.

The ECLAC report also suggested Antigua and Barbuda would see a “significant increase” in inflows from the country’s citizenship by investment program.

You can find the full United Nations report here.