Anguilla

  
Capital city:               The Valley    
Currency:                   East Caribbean dollar (XCD)    
Population:               14,764  
Language:                  English    
GDP:                            USD$311 million 
GDP per capita:        USD$21,065

Anguilla is a small British territory (land area just 90 km2) lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. It was named Angullia by Christopher Columbus after the Spanish word for eel (as the islands are shaped like an eel).

Anguilla is a flat, low-lying island of coral and limestone and is known for its spectacular and ecologically important coral reefs and beaches. Apart from the main island of Anguilla itself, the territory includes a number of other smaller islands and cays including Anguillita, Dog Island, Prickly Pear Cays, Scrub Island,
Seal Island, Hat Island and Sandy Island.

Anguilla’s thin arid soil is largely unsuitable for agriculture, and the island has few land-based natural resources. As a result, its main industries are tourism, offshore incorporation and management, offshore banking, captive insurance and fishing.

Anguilla is a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations. Anguilla’s financial system comprises 7 banks, 2 money services businesses, more than 40 company managers, more than 50 insurers, 12 brokers, more than 250 captive intermediaries, more than 50 mutual funds and 8 trust companies. 

In April 2011, faced with a mounting deficit, the Government introduced a 3% ‘Interim Stabilisation Levy’, Anguilla’s first form of income tax.