Debt Relief — Food Security Fact Sheet for Haiti

Compiled by Jubilee USA Network

• In 1825, France demanded Haiti pay 150 million francs ($21 billion today) as compensation for their loss of property in Haiti, including slaves.
• Today, Haiti has a total external debt of $1.4 billion, 45 percent of which was given during the corrupt Duvalier Regimes. Each year, Haiti pays approximately $56 million to service this debt — almost $1 million every week.
• In 2006 Haiti qualified for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country initiative which could significantly lower Haiti’s debt by the end of 2009, at the earliest. This could mean 100 percent debt relief from the Inter-American Development Bank ($534 million), but approximately only 15 percent relief from other creditors such as the World Bank and IMF. Thus, after debt relief under HIPC initiative is achieved in 2009 (or later) Haiti may still be paying service to $500-600 million of debt.
• Average import tariffs in Haiti are 2.9 percent, making it the most economically liberal country in the western hemisphere, while continuing to be the most economically poor country as well. The tariff decreases over the past 20 years, thanks largely to the structural reforms implemented in 1986 and 1995 by the IMF and World Bank, allowed imported food products to undercut the price of locally produced food, while at the same time hindered potential revenue that could have bolstered national production.
• According to a 2006 Christian Aid report, the production of local rice in Haiti dropped 41 percent from 124,000 tons in 1981 to 78,000 tons in 2004. Meanwhile imports skyrocketed from 15,000 tons in the early 80s to 350,000 tons in 2004. This makes Haiti, with a small population of 8.5 million, the third largest importer of U.S. rice. Meanwhile, an estimated 830,000 Haitian agriculture jobs have been lost as a result of this trade liberalization that was required by IMF and World Bank loans.
• Social spending has grown by 75 percent in those countries that have already received debt relief.
• Haiti’s new Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy prioritized the development of a sustainable agriculture system based on: environmentally sound agricultural practices: increased clarity on the ownership and use of land; watershed protection and ensuring the broader availability of basic foodstuffs through the stimulation of agricultural production (including livestock farming and poultry production)