Citizenship exports must invest in startups

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From Dad’s Army:

The federal government is set to release a revamped Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program today, forcing foreign investors who want to acquire citizenship to set aside $2.5 million for investing in start-up and emerging companies.

The new program wants to divert the billions of dollars raised from the scheme away from ultra-safe investments such as government bonds and commercial properties to more risky areas such as start-up sector, which is cash-starved.

In the future, foreign investors need to invest at least half a million, or 10 per cent of their total investment, in eligible Australian venture capital or growth private equity funds. Investors also need to set aside at least $1.5 million for investing in ASX-listed small companies.

Good policy.

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.