7657: GOH's Budget Deficit (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

According to Agence Haïtienne de Presse, the Ministry

of Finance has reported that the GOH has incurred a budget

deficit of 1 billion gourdes (approximately US $44 million)

during the first 6 months of the current fiscal year.

This is attributed to additional expenditures for the recent

elections and subsidies for petroleum fuels.

The GOH hopes to reduce the benefit through more rigorous

tax collection and better control of government expenditures.

All of this will be difficult to achieve in an economy that is near

stagnation and in the face of relations with the international

community that are still badly frayed.