#1631: The Gourde's Current Weakness : Blanchet comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

When Diaspora folks travel to Haiti - tens of thousands

of them in December alone - they bring with them dollars

with which they purchase Gourdes. Thus, the pressure

on the Gourde brings up its value relative to the dollar.

Simple supply and demand effect.

This trend helps counter the opposite trend whereby the

dollar tends to appreciate relative to the Gourde because

business people tend to replenish their stocks - in $ - in

anticipation of increased  end-of-year sales as they do


everywhere else on the planet.

To sum up, a reduced influx of Diaspora folks coupled with

with normal behavior on the part of business provides a

plausible, albeit partial, explanation  of what is going on.

I think there is more to it though.

Thus, my initial posting.