USVI Economic Development Authority and Bureau of Economic Research outline lending, workforce and infrastructure priorities

CHARLESTOWN, St. Thomas — Leaders from the Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority and the Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research briefed the Legislature’s Committee on Economic Development and Agriculture on June 9, outlining a portfolio of lending programs, enterprise‑zone work, industrial‑park plans and priorities for economic data.

The USVI Economic Development Authority’s chief executive, Wayne Biggs Jr., said the authority — described in testimony as “the umbrella organization” for the Economic Development Bank, Economic Development Commission, Enterprise Zone Commission and Economic Development Park Corporation — is working across those units to attract investment, support small businesses and expand manufacturing and trade‑zone activity. “The USVI EDA or the Authority ... is the umbrella organization which assumes, integrates, and unifies the functions of the following subsidiary entities,” Biggs said.

The update came as lawmakers pressed EDA and Bureau of Economic Research leaders for more granular numbers and faster reporting. The bureau’s director, Haldane F. Davies, said the bureau is the territory’s principal source of official economic statistics and that the territorial GDP series has been paused pending federal Office of Insular Affairs work to close data gaps. “We will have that conversation [with OIA] and would have a more concrete response with respect to timelines,” Davies said.

Why it matters: EDA programs and the data behind them guide decisions about housing subsidies, workforce development and infrastructure investments. Several programs described by the EDA carry multi‑million‑dollar implications: a federal SSBCI allocation for lending, a territorial…