15073: Hermantin: Sun-Sentinel-Haiti economy is near chaos, official says (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun-Sentinel

Haiti economy is near chaos, official says
EFE News

March 10, 2003

San Juan, Puerto Rico · Jean-Claude Paulvin, vice president of the
Association of Haitian Economists, said the economic situation in Haiti is
rapidly deteriorating into chaos.

The budget deficit last year was equivalent to 3 percent of the gross
domestic product and is expected to rise this year, Paulvin, who is visiting
Puerto Rico, told EFE News.

Haiti's labor market is in similarly dismal shape, with unemployment
hovering at 60-70 percent, and the minimum wage for those lucky enough to
have a job is $1.50 per day, Paulvin said.

Haiti, the economist said, does not have the capacity to produce goods and
services because of poor decision-making over the past 10 years by those
responsible for leading the poorest nation in Latin America.

"Because we do not have that capacity, we cannot produce," Paulvin said.
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's policies have failed, he said.

He said the government should implement a policy to increase the production
of goods and services to benefit the Haitian people, who in January faced an
inflation rate of 13 percent. If runaway inflation continues, the rate for
the year could reach 60 percent.

Paulvin, president of the Ecosof consulting firm, said the crisis has
worsened because Haiti has to import goods with dollars it does not have,
and Haitian citizens are unable to buy even local products.

He said Haiti's economic crisis has also been heightened by suspensions of
foreign aid.

The Inter-American Development Bank was giving the Haitian government $500
million, but it has stopped making disbursements, Paulvin said.


Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel





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