CHARLOTTE AMALIE — The U.S. Virgin Islands has the second-worst economy in the United States — with only Hawaii worse — over the 10-year period before COVID-19, Bond Buyer reports
The news outlet says the USVI shrunk 24 percent “in real terms” from 2009 to 2019 in a report by Robert Slavin on Friday.
“The territory’s economy has continued to struggle in the past two years, with the islands’ employment down 9.5% through from February 2020 to October 2021, according to New York Federal Reserve Bank Early Benchmarked employment data,” Bond Buyer said. “Of the 50 states, only Hawaii has performed worse.”
A Moody’s Investors Service report from October said one of the factors explaining the territorial government’s Caa3 rating is a “small and highly concentrated economy.”
In layman’s terms, what Moody’s means is that the local government and Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) are not friendly to small businesses.
The time period 2009 to 2019 covers three territorial administrations, the De Jongh Administration (which Governor Albert Bryan was a part of), the Mapp Administration and the Bryan Administration.
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