IMF Provides Economic Support for Haiti
Within days of the earthquake IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for a Marshall plan for Haiti, and promised to work with all donors to help cancel Haiti’s debt.
The July 21 decision to deliver new debt relief of $268 million cancels all of Haiti’s outstanding debt to the IMF and was granted under the Post Catastrophe Debt Relief Trust Fund. The debt relief is part of a broad international effort to alleviate the country’s debt burden following the disaster.
“Donors must start delivering on their promises to Haiti quickly,” Strauss-Kahn said, “so reconstruction can be accelerated, living standards quickly improved, and social tensions soothed.”
The decision adds to the $1.2 billion of debt relief for Haiti delivered by the IMF and other financial organizations in June 2009 under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives.
In the days after the devastating earthquake hit the Caribbean country, the IMF responded rapidly to Haiti’s needs, and quickly approved $114 million in assistance, the first international organization to provide financial support in the aftermath of the quake.
The money was used to get cash circulating in the economy so that people could buy food and employees could be paid. The funds were also used to allow Haiti to pay for urgently needed imports.
The IMF also provided immediate technical assistance to help restore the government’s capacity to collect revenue, and better manage its limited resources.
IMF continues to help aid flow to Haiti
Today’s decision by the IMF supports Haiti’s 10-year plan to rebuild the country and raise economic growth. The new three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility will help release donor support by ensuring economic stability and fostering transparent use of the funds promised by the international community.
“The IMF support will act as catalyst for other donors, and our program has a number of objectives to increase growth, which we expect to reach 10 percent next year,” said Ronald Baudin, Haiti’s Finance Minister, in a conference call with reporters after the IMF announcement.
Baudin said the focus would be to rebuild the country’s economic infrastructure to attract companies back to Haiti to develop the textiles and tourism industries, which would create jobs for Haitians and add to the overall...
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