Haiti is a free-market economy with low labor costs and tariff-free access to the US for much of its exports. Its main trading partner is the United States. Haiti has preferential trade access to the US market through the Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) and the Haitian Economic Development Enhancement Act (HELP) law, which allows duty free access, for a variety of textiles, to the US market.
Haiti has an agricultural economy. More than half of the world's vetiver oil (the essential oil used in perfume of the upper classes) comes from Haiti, and bananas, cocoa, and mango are important export crops. Haiti has also moved to expand into higher-end manufacturing, producing Android-based tablets and sensors as well as current transformers.
Vulnerability to natural disasters, as well as poverty and limited access to education are among the most serious disadvantages of Haiti. Two-fifths of all Haitians rely on the agricultural sector, especially small-scale subsistence agriculture, and remain vulnerable to the damage caused by natural disasters, exacerbated by the widespread deforestation in the country. Haiti suffers from a severe trade deficit, which works to cope with moving to high-end manufacturing and more value-added products in the agricultural sector. Remittances are the main source of foreign exchange, equivalent to almost 20% of GDP. Haiti's economy is heavily influenced by the 2010 Haiti earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010.
Video Economy of Haiti
Sejarah ekonomi
Before Haiti established its independence from the French administration in 1804, Haiti was classified as the richest and most productive colony in the world. In the years of independence, Haiti suffered isolation on the international stage, as evidenced by the lack of early diplomatic recognition given to it by Europe and the United States; this has a negative impact on the desire of foreigners to invest in Haiti. One of the most significant economic constraints in early independence of Haiti was the required payment of 150 million francs to France beginning in 1825; this exhausts much of the state's capital stock.
According to a study 2014, Haiti's economy stagnated because of a combination of weak state power and poor international relations. The author writes:
For the newly-born 'native Republic', it is difficult to recognize as a sovereign nation state, it is difficult to form strategic alliances, to gain access to foreign loans, and to protect the interests of commerce, and is replete with debt under threat of external violence loss of France). Self-selected isolation, for example by prohibiting foreign land ownership, further reduces the choice chosen from successive Haitian administrations. When opportunities for export-led growth opened in the late 19th century, chances were stacked against Haiti.
Under President Renà © à © PrÃÆ'  © val (President from 1996 to 2001 and from 2006 to 14 May 2011), the country's economic agenda includes trade liberalization and tariffs, measures to control government spending and increase tax revenues, downsizing of civil servants, financial reforms, and the modernization of state-owned enterprises through their sale to private investors, the provision of private sector management contracts, or joint public-private investments. Structural adjustment agreements with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other international financial institutions aimed at creating the conditions necessary for private sector growth have proven to be only partially successful.
In the aftermath of the restoration of constitutional governance in 1994, Haitian officials have indicated their commitment to economic reform through the adoption of sound fiscal and monetary policies and the enactment of legislation mandating the modernization of state-owned enterprises. A council to guide the modernization program (CMEP) was formed and a schedule was drafted to modernize the nine key parastatal. Although mills and state-owned cement plants have been diverted to private owners, progress on the other seven parastatals has stalled. The modernization of Haitian companies remains a controversial political issue in Haiti.
The comparative social and economic indicators show that Haiti lags behind other low-income (especially western) developing countries since the 1980s. The economic stagnation of Haiti resulted from previous inadequate economic policies, political instability, lack of good fertile land, environmental degradation, the use of sustainable traditional technology, lack of capital and lack of public investment in human resources, the migration of a large proportion of the skilled population, weak national savings.
Haiti continues to suffer the consequences of the 1991 coup. The irresponsible economic and financial policies of the de facto authorities greatly hastened Haiti's economic downturn. Following the coup, the United States adopted mandatory sanctions, and the OAS instituted voluntary sanctions aimed at restoring constitutional rule. International sanctions culminated in the UN embargo of May 1994 all goods entering Haiti except humanitarian supplies, such as food and medicine. The assembly sector, heavily dependent on the US market for its products, employed nearly 80,000 workers in the mid-1980s. During the embargo, employment fell from 33,000 workers in 1991 to 400 in October 1994. Private, domestic and foreign investments are slow to return to Haiti. Since the return of constitutional rule, assembly sector jobs have gradually recovered with more than 20,000 workers today, but further growth has been halted by investor concerns over safety and supply reliability.
If the political situation stabilizes, the crime rate is reduced, and new investment increases, tourism can take place in addition to export-oriented manufacturing (assembly sector) as a potential source of foreign exchange. Remittances from abroad are consistently a source of financial support for many Haitian households.
Haiti's Ministry of Economy and Finance drafted Haiti's economic reforms in 1996 to rebuild Haiti's economy after a significant decline in previous years. Major reforms are centered around the Emergency Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) and followed by budgetary reform.
Real GDP growth in Haiti turned negative in FY 2001 after six years of growth. Real GDP fell 1.1% in FY 2001 and 0.9% in FY 2002. Macroeconomic stability was negatively affected by political uncertainty, collapse of informal banking cooperatives, high budget deficits, low investment, and reduced international capital flows, including the suspension of IFI loans. when Haiti fell into arrears with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank.
Haiti's economy stabilized in 2003. Although FY 2003 began with a rapid decline in gourde due to rumors that the US dollar deposit account would be nationalized and due to the withdrawal of fuel subsidies, the government managed to stabilize the gourde for taking politically difficult decisions to float fuel prices freely accordingly with world market prices and raising interest rates. The government agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a supervised staff program (SMP), followed by a payment of $ 32 million in arrears to IDB in July, paved the way for an updated IDB loan. IDB disbursed $ 35 million from a $ 50 million policy-based loan in July and began disbursing four previously approved project loans of $ 146 million. IDB, IMF and World Bank also discussed new loans with the government. Much of this will depend on government compliance with fiscal and monetary targets and policy reforms, such as those beginning under junior high schools, and Haiti's payment of World Bank arrears ($ 30 million on 9/30/03).
The IMF estimates that real GDP is flat in FY 2003 and projected 1% of real GDP growth for FY 2004. However, per capita GDP - $ 425 in FY 2002 - will continue to decline as population growth is estimated at 1.3% p.a. While implementing governmental reform and peaceful resolution of political deadlock is the key to long-term growth, external support remains important in avoiding economic collapse. A key element of foreign exchange transfers, reported as $ 931 million in 2002, primarily from US foreign aid, meanwhile, was $ 130 million in FY 2002. The overall level of foreign aid has declined since FY 1995, the elected government of the year restored to power under the United Nations Mandate, when the international community provided more than $ 600 million in aid.
Legal minimum wages of 36 gourdes per day (around US $ 1.80) are set out in 1995, and apply to most workers in the formal sector. Then increased to 70 gourdes per day. Actually this minimum is 200 gourdes a day (about US $ 4.80). 39,175 pumpkin = one dollar.
Haiti's economy suffered a severe setback in January 2010 when an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 devastated many of its capital, Port-au-Prince, and the surrounding areas. Already the poorest country in the west with 80% of the population living below the poverty line and 54% in poverty, the earthquake caused a loss of $ 7.8 billion and caused the country's GDP to contract by 5.4% in 2010. Following the earthquake, Haiti received $ 4.59 billion in international promises for reconstruction, which has been slow.
The US economic involvement under the Haitian Hemisphere Opportunity through the Partnership's Partnership Act (HOPE), adopted in December 2006, has increased exports and investment of apparel by providing duty free access to the US. Congress voted in 2010 to extend the law until 2020 under the HELP Act; the garment sector accounts for about 90% of Haitian exports and nearly a tenth of GDP. Remittances are the main source of foreign exchange, equivalent to almost 20% of GDP and more than double the income of exports. Haiti is suffering from lack of investment, partly due to limited infrastructure and lack of security. In 2005, Haiti paid its arrears to the World Bank, paving the way for rejoining the World Bank. Haiti received a debt pardon of more than $ 1 billion through the initiative of the Very Poor State Poor by the middle of 2009. The remainder of its foreign debt was canceled by donor countries after the 2010 earthquake but has since risen to over $ 600 million. The government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability, with more than half of its annual budget coming from outside sources. Michel Martelly Administration in 2011 launched a campaign aimed at attracting foreign investment to Haiti as a vehicle for sustainable development.
Maps Economy of Haiti
Debt cancellation
In 2005, the total amount of Haitian foreign debt reached about US $ 1.3 billion, which corresponds to per capita debt of US $ 169, unlike the US $ 40,000 per capita debt of US $ 40,000. After the democratic elections of Aristide in December 1990, many international creditors responded by canceling large amounts of Haitian debt, bringing the total to US $ 777 million in 1991. However, new loans during the 1990s increased the debt to over US $ 1 billion.
At its peak, Haiti's total foreign debt is estimated at 1.8 billion dollars, including half a billion dollars to the Inter-American Development Bank, Haiti's biggest creditor. In September 2009, Haiti complied with the provisions set by the IMF and the Tangguh World Bank's poor program, eligible for partial cancellation of its foreign debt. This amounted to a $ 1.2 billion cancellation. Nonetheless in 2010 calls for the cancellation of the remaining $ 1 billion of debt came strongly from civil society groups such as the Jubilee Debt Campaign in response to the effects of the earthquake that struck the country.
Primary Industry
The primary industries include the following:
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
Although many Haitians earn a living through subsistence agriculture, Haiti also has an agricultural export sector. Agriculture, along with forestry and fisheries, accounts for about a quarter (28% in 2004) of Haiti's annual gross domestic product and employs about two-thirds (66% in 2004) of the workforce. However, expansion is difficult because the mountains cover most of the countryside and limit the available land for cultivation. Of the total fertile land of 550,000 hectares, 125,000 hectares are suitable for irrigation, and only 75,000 hectares have been repaired by irrigation. Yemeni's dominant crops include coffee, mango, and chocolate. Haiti has reduced sugar cane production, traditionally an important commercial crop, due to declining prices and intense international competition. As the forests of Haiti have been dramatically reduced, timber exports have declined. The annual roundwood log is about 1,000 kilograms. Haiti also has a small fishing industry. Annual catches in recent years have reached about 5,000 tons
Mining and minerals
Haiti has a mining industry that extracts minerals worth about US $ 13 million in 2013. Bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, and marble are the most heavily extracted minerals in Haiti. Lime and aggregate and on the lower level marble extracted. Gold was mined by Spain in early colonial times. Bauxite was mined over the last few years at a site near MiragoÃÆ'Â ¢ ne on the southern peninsula. Operated from 1960 to 1972 International Halliwell Mines, Ltd. ("Halliwell"), a Canadian company, through a wholly owned subsidiary of Haiti, La Societe d'Exploitation et de Developpement Economique et Natural d'Haiti ("Sedren") mines copper near GonaÃÆ'velves.
0.5 million tons of ore is exported. The copper ore is worth about $ 83.5 million. The Haitian government receives about $ 3 million. In 2012 there are gold and copper mining pledges in northern Haiti.
Gold
In 2012, it was reported that covenants and secret negotiations have been signed by the Haitian government that licenses for exploration or mining of gold and related metals such as copper for more than 1,000 square miles (2,600 km 2 ) in the mineralized zone stretching from east to west across northern Haiti. Estimates of gold values ​​that may be extracted through open pit mining are as high as US $ 20 billion. Eurasia Minerals and Newmont Mining Corporation are the two companies involved. According to Alex Dupuy, Chair of African American Studies and Professor of Sociology John E. Andrus at Wesleyan University, Haiti's ability to adequately manage mining operations or to obtain and use funds obtained from operations for the benefit of its people has not been tested and seriously questioned. LakwÃÆ'¨v, where the earth was dug from a handmade tunnel washed for a speck of free gold by the locals, is one of the locations. In the same mineralized zone in the Dominican Republic, Barrick Gold and Goldcorp plan to reopen the Pueblo Viejo mine.
Secondary Industry
Secondary industries include the following:
Manufacturing
Leading industries in Haiti produce beverages, butter, cement, detergents, vegetable oils, flour, refined sugar, soaps, and textiles. Growth in both manufacturing and industry as a whole has been slowed by a lack of capital investment. Grants from the United States and other countries have targeted this issue, but without much success. Private building and construction buildings appear to be one subsector with positive growth prospects.
In 2004 the industry accounted for about 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and less than 10 percent of the workforce in industrial production. As part of GDP, the manufacturing sector has contracted since the 1980s. The UN embargo in 1994 caused most of the 80,000 workers in the assembly sector to be unable to work. In addition, years of military rule following a presidential coup in 1991 resulted in the closure of most of Haiti's offshore assembly plants in the free zone around Port-au-Prince. When President Aristide returned to Haiti, some improvements were made in the manufacturing sector.
The cheaper labor force from Haiti brought some textile and garment assembly work back to the island in the late 1990s. Although this profit is undermined by international competition, the apparel sector in 2008 accounted for two-thirds of Haiti's $ 490 million annual export. The US economic engagement under the HOPE Act, starting in December 2006, boosts export and investment of apparel by providing tariff-free access to the US. HOPE II, in October 2008, further improves the situation by expanding preferences through 2018.
Energy
Haiti uses very little energy, equivalent to about 250 kilograms of oil per head per year. In 2003, Haiti produced 546 million kilowatt-hours of electricity while consuming 508 million kilowatt-hours. By 2013, it's 135 out of 135 countries in total net electricity consumption.
Most of the country's energy comes from burning wood. Haiti imported oil, consuming about 11,800 barrels per day (1,880 m 3 /d), in 2003. PÃÆ' Â © ligre Dam, the largest country, provides the capital of Port-au-Prince with energy. Thermal plants provide electricity throughout the country. Even with the country's low energy demand levels, power supplies have traditionally been sporadic and vulnerable to flaws. Mismanagement by the state has offset more than US $ 100 million in foreign investment targeted to improve Haiti's energy infrastructure. Business has sought to secure backup resources to address routine outages. The potential for a larger hydroelectric plant exists, Haiti should have the desire and the means to develop it. The government controls the price of oil and gas, to a level that protects Haiti from international price fluctuations.
Tertiary Industry
Tertiary industries include the following:
Services
The service sector of Haiti constituted 52 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2004 and employs 25 percent of its workforce. According to World Bank statistics, the service sector is one of several sectors of the Haitian economy that is sustainable, if it is, growing throughout the 1990s.
Banking and finance
The lack of a stable and reliable banking system has hampered the economic development of Haiti. Banks in Haiti have collapsed regularly. Most Haitians have no access to loans of any kind. When re-elected in 2000, President Aristide promised to improve the situation but instead introduced a non-sustainable "cooperative" plan that ensured investors get a 10 percent return rate. By 2000, the cooperative had collapsed and the Haitian people had collectively lost more than US $ 200 million in savings.
Haiti's central bank, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti, oversees 10 commercial banks and two foreign banks operating in the country. Most of the banking takes place in the capital of Port-au-Prince. The United Nations and International Monetary Fund have led efforts to diversify and expand the financial sector, making credit more available to rural residents. In 2002, the Canadian International Development Agency led a training program for the Haitian Credit Union. Haiti does not have a stock exchange.
Tourism
Tourism in Haiti has suffered state political upheaval. Inadequate infrastructure also has limited visitors to the island. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, tourism was an important industry, which averaged 150,000 visitors annually. Since the 1991 coup, tourism has recovered slowly. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has joined the Haitian government in an effort to restore the image of the island as a tourist destination. In 2001, 141,000 foreigners visited Haiti. Most come from the United States. To make tourism a major industry for Haiti, further improvements in hotels, restaurants and other infrastructure are still needed.
See also
- List of Haitian companies
- List of Latin American and Caribbean countries based on GDP (nominal)
- List of Latin American and Caribbean countries based on GDP (PPP)
Footnote
References
Most of this article is based on public domain material from the US government. See: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1982.htm
- CIA World Factbook: Haiti
- Haitian agriculture
- Inter-American Bank Grants To Benefit Haitian Coffee Farmers
- Haitian Free Trade Zone
- IICA plants for the Haitian environment
- Defend the Rights of Workers in Haiti
- CTH Secretary General Paul Chery interviewed the 2004 coup and labor issues
- HAITI: Pain in Pump Spurs Strike Actions
- HAITI: Protest Workers Laying Privatization
External links and further reading
- 'Haiti Grim History Becomes "Open to Business"'
- "CHRONOLOGIE DU SECTEUR MINIER HAITIEN (de 1492 ÃÆ' 2000")
- Google translation "CHRONOLOGY OF MINING HAITIAN (From 1492 to 2000)"
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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