Latest / IMI Podcasts / This Week in IMI - Mar 17, 2023: Tirana Takes a Timid Turn, The Prodigal Tom Returns, "More Housing" - Less FDI, and Debt on the Nile.

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This Week in IMI - Mar 17, 2023: Tirana Takes a Timid Turn, The Prodigal Tom Returns, "More Housing" - Less FDI, and Debt on the Nile. · IMI Podcasts

• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to This Week in Investment Migration.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tirana takes a timid turn.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Albania has postponed its plans for a citizenship by investment program pending the outcome of the European Court of Justice's ruling in the EU Commission's case against Malta.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Albanian Prime Minister Eddie Rama announced the suspension of CBI plans following a meeting with EU Commission Vice President Josip Borrell.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Albanian administration agreed not to launch a CBI program without first seeing the outcome of the ECJ case.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: If the ECJ rules against CBI, said Rama, the matter would also be closed for Albania.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: If it rules in favor, however, each country will make its own choice, the PM concluded.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Implicated in the same ECJ case is Cyprus's erstwhile CIP, which closed in November 2020 under ignominious circumstances.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Last week the country's bar association revealed it was investigating dozens of Cypriot law firms over alleged inadequate KYC AML procedures in connection with the CIP and that it had already found five of them guilty.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: The Prodigal Tom Returns.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thomas Anthony, whose breadth of experience with CBI due diligence is hard to rival, is back at the helm at Grenada's Citizenship by Investment Unit.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: He held the same post between 2018 and 2019 during then Prime Minister Keith Mitchell's last period in office.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony has also served as deputy CEO of Antigua and Barbuda's CIU and as head of due diligence firm Exager's ICV division.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: He will formally start his new role on April 3rd.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The CIU has already begun to cut Anthony's workout for him.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: This week it issued a memo warning against rebate and share buyback practices among CBI property developers.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Such methods, said the committee, contravene the program's regulations by providing discounts that bring investment amounts below minimum qualifying levels.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Developers found guilty may face legal sanctions, while those who had qualified for Grenadian citizenships in this way could see them rescinded.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: More housing, less FDI.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Portugal's left wing government extended the public discussion period for its More Housing legislative proposal by about two weeks, reportedly to allow more time for the country's municipalities to weigh in.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: The bill seeks to, among other controversial moves, end the Golden Visa program and freeze the issuance of new touristic accommodation, that is, Airbnb licenses.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: It also proposes to retroactively make all new applications filed after the february sixteenth press conference invalid, a move widely criticized as unconstitutional.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: In an opinion piece for IMI, Inés Costamora and Miguel Gomez illustrate the potential consequences the bill, as currently formulated, would have on investment and labor in Portugal's hospitality sector.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Billions of euros and thousands of jobs are at stake, and that's just for a single golden visa developer.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Debt on the Nile.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Facing a currency devaluation crisis brought on by an addiction to foreign debt, Egypt is scrambling to find means of attracting foreign capital.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: As part of those efforts, Prime Minister Madbuli last week issued a decree that will see a discount applied to several qualifying categories of the country's CIP.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Notably, the decree reduces the minimum investment for real estate to US$300,000 from the previous$500,000.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: In their third installment of a four part series on how to expatriate from the United States, David L'Esporance and Melvin Warshaw explain how to get through the Byzantine obstacle course of U.S.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: exit tax without setting off the IRS's booby traps.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.