Economics
Visa-Free Access to Cape Verde for EU May Boost Growth to 7%
- Country wants to reduce external debt to sustainable levels
- West African archipelago seeks to privatize state airline
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Cape Verde will exempt European Union citizens from needing visas to visit the West African archipelago as it strives to boost tourism, which is vital to its economy, according to the prime minister.
Visa-free access for EU passport holders should begin in 2018, Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva said by phone from Praia, the capital. The exemption is part of a raft of proposals that includes privatizing the ailing state-owned airline, improving management of its airports and growing crops for export so that gross domestic product can expand at a faster rate than the forecast of 5 percent for this year, he said.