Soaring demand for Vanuatu’s controversial passport scheme has kept the South Pacific island nation’s budget in surplus despite the COVID-19 pandemic and a damaging cyclone crippling its dominant tourism sector, budget papers show. Vanuatu late on Thursday reported a budget surplus for the first six months of 2020 of 3.8 billion vatu ($34.16 million), led by 32% rise in sales of citizenship, worth 7.1 billion vatu. The jump in passport sales has helped Vanuatu avoid the mounting debts some Pacific island states have racked up with China and other lenders, but experts warn the practice risks harming Vanuatu’s beneficial relationship with countries such Australia. “Some of the people buying these passports have been on Interpol red notices and the more that happens, the more it undermines the value of the passport,” said Jonathan Pryke, Director, Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute.