a1211: BBC: Haiti: Planning minister comments on need, plans to regulate cooperatives (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Haiti: Planning minister comments on need, plans to regulate cooperatives
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 12, 2002


The head of the Haitian Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation says
the government has distanced itself from the very high monthly interest
rates offered by the cooperatives on the deposits they currently receive
from the people. During a forum on the economy at the Ritz Kinam II Hotel at
the end of last week, Marc Louis Bazin explained that many of the Haitian
cooperatives constitute a network where informal money [as heard] is being
used, without an appropriate supervisory system.
Minister Bazin said that the Haitian government is preparing a law on
cooperatives and that this law will try: to protect those who are depositing
funds in these cooperatives, to establish a connection between the banks and
the cooperatives and to assess the consequences the growing interest rates
may have on the national economy. Bazin said that the government does not
have any means to guarantee these interest rates in the event that they are
not paid. Let us listen to explanations by Planning and External Cooperation
Minister Bazin:
[Bazin - recording] //If you deposit money somewhere and you do not know or
are not certain as to how this money is used, you run the risk that, in the
event that the business to which you gave your money is dissolved, you might
be not paid and you have no recourse. We are worried about your not having
any recourse. This is part of our worries.
As a government, we cannot remain indifferent to the fact that most of the
depositors are attracted by the rates, without thinking about the
consequences, especially when we, in particular do not have any means to
guarantee that these deposits will actually be paid; and you, the
depositors, think that the state has some responsibilities regarding the
reimbursement of these funds in the event that the people who took your
money are unable to reimburse it, either because of a technical mistake or
because of mismanagement. We do not have the means. We want this to be
known.
We make a point of establishing a governing framework that defines the rules
of the game and that allows everyone to know not only what they are
committing themselves to but also what the state is not committing itself
to.// [End of recording]
At the same time, agronomist Saint-Fort Dadaille, coordinator of the
committee which is drawing up the law on the cooperatives, said that the law
would be the correct answer to the banks' concerns. According to Dadaille,
various important points, such as the risks and management of the
cooperatives, are very important to the law on the cooperatives. He would
like to have the reaction of the cooperatives by the end of March. The
supervisor of the committee thinks the supervision of the Bank of the
Republic of Haiti [Haitian central bank] is necessary through an
inspector-general's office. Dadaille's statements follow:
[Dadaille - recording] During the last five or six years, there has been
such a quick increase that, when we go to the Haitian Wall Street in
Carrefour [southern suburb of Port-au-Prince where most cooperatives are
situated], we are surprised. This has created worries among both the
cooperative sector and the banking sector. So, the idea of having a law that
governs cooperatives in particular falls within a measure that was taken
already under the government of agronomist [former Prime Minister] Jacques
Edouard Alexis... [End of recording]
Source: Signal FM Radio, Port-au-Prince, in Creole 1230 gmt 11 Mar 02
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.