An analysis of recent findings on Haiti's debt was published by the Monthly Review. Authored by by Joe Emersberger and Jeb Sprague, the report delves into the statistics and findings of more recent reports on Haiti and questions the viability of the debt relief program as it specifically applies to Haiti (HIPC).
Special thanks to Jeb Sprague over at PopDem and Brian Concannon Jr. at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti for bringing this to our attention.
Despite being the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti lags behind many countries in the Americas in obtaining debt relief through a program run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
If Haiti were to comply with the conditions of the HIPC program by September 2008, then about $1.2 billion of its $1.5 billion external foreign debt would be canceled. The study explains why it is very unlikely that Haiti will meet the conditions of the program by that date.
As a result, Haiti will have to pay an additional $44.5 million in debt service payments in 2009 alone to multilateral institutions (mostly the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank). "This is equivalent to about 26 percent of Haiti's spending on public health, where there are many vital unmet needs." noted the study. The life expectancy of Haitians is an abysmal 53 years, with 76 percent living on less than $2 per day.
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