30546: Durban (comment): 30531: Roebling on Digicel prepayments (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Lance Durban <Lpdurban@yahoo.com> offers these thoughts...

Foreign remittances were way up last year, and Digicel and Comcel have
got to be a big factor.  Better contact with relatives overseas
encourages those relatives to support family members in Haiti.  If
diaspora can now credit Digicel accounts online that can only help
build family ties which, in turn, encourages even more remittances.

Although the foreign aid community and the Haitian government have no
real control over these transfers, this kind of "foreign aid" offers
the real advantage of giving the people in Haiti exactly what they
want.  That perhaps unwanted tractor will not be bought unless it
really is wanted by the family that will be using it.

There are some negatives, of course.  Necessary public investment does
not benefit from foreign remittances... eg. roads and drainage systems
don't get built.  Furthermore, the benefits are skewed toward those
families who managed to get a relative to the USA or Canada and this
degrades the efforts of people who actually work for a living in Haiti.
 Many feel it is better to invest in getting Junior on the next boat to
Miami than in actually investing in his education... something that
might help him get a job in Haiti.

Clearly there are pros and cons, but on balance foreign remittances are
a huge help for Haiti, so keep the flow coming, folks!

Lance Durban