#1900: Gourde depreciation, elections, elatriye (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

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

According to SICRAD, the Gourde has tumbled

to 20 per dollar on the informal market for the

first time since the coup years.

Haiti's Central Bank intends to strengthen the

Gourde through the purchase of dollars using

its reserves.  Haitian economists doubt this can

be done given that reserves amount to US$ 250

million while Haiti imports on average US$ 60

million worth of goods and services monthly.

Haiti's Finance Minister has declared that "la

rigueur est de mise"  meaning that more belt-

tightening is ahead for the GOH and the ...

Haitian people.

Meanwhile, the protestant - based MOCRENHA

(Mouvement Chrétien pour une Nouvelle Haïti)

is playing a large and visible role in the political

arena as it is among the parties that have fielded

the largest number of candidates for the coming

elections. SICRAD's analysis of this phenomenon

corroborates analyses presented recently by

Haïti en Marche and  Haitian Times.