Haiti Observer

European Investment Bank (EIB) To Finance Projects in Haiti
On Monday, May 24, 2017, Pim van Ballekom, the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) along with a team of delegation, visited the EIB-funded hospital in Tabarre during a tour aiming the exploration of project opportunities in Haiti. After the 2010 earthquake, EIB provided a grant of €600,000 (HTG 45 million) to build this modular trauma surgery hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Tabarre. The staff of EIB also donated €51,357 for this hospital. In Haiti, EIB has granted a total of €16 million (HTG 1.2 billion) support to SME projects (small and medium-sized enterprises).

On his first visit to the country, Vice President Pim van Ballekom and his team discussed funding opportunities with the Haitian authorities, including Haiti President Jovenel Moïse, Central Bank Governor Jean Baden Dubois, and ministers of the government with the objective of granting loans for future projects.

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As per news reports dated June 7, 2017, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a grant to Haiti to cover the country's 2017-2018 parametric insurance premiums with CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility). The Bank will provide $3.5 million (for the fifth consecutive year) to meet the cost of the premiums for tropical cyclones, earthquake and excess rainfall coverage on this insurance premium account. CDB has further committed for continual support through regular parametrical insurance premium and other assistance and support mechanisms which aim to build resilience to the impact of natural hazards.

"Parametric Insurance" is a form of catastrophe insurance that covers mostly unusual weather events. It is a type of insurance that does not indemnify the pure loss, but ex ante (before the event) agrees to make a payment upon the intensity on the occurrence of a triggering event. It is a type of insurance, reinsurance or risk transfer arrangement that does not indemnify the full loss for the protection buyer. Under a Parametric Insurance contract, the parameters on which the ultimate payment is calculated normally include a weather or geological observation index, like rainfall over a defined period or average temperature or wind speeds for hurricanes, the intensity of an earthquake at specific locations. The lack of adequate insurance against natural catastrophe is very acute, especially in developing countries. It is a sad reality that the developing nations like Haiti are often the most exposed nations to natural catastrophes and they are also the least equipped to shoulder such losses.

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If you don't believe that there is a problem with the current rate of population increase in Haiti, think again. As of 2016, the current population in Haiti was estimated at 10,485,800. The population is currently growing at a rate of 1.71%. This growth rate already take into consideration the effects of excess mortality, lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and higher death rates.

The birth rate, in 2016 was estimated at 23.3 births/1,000 population while the death rate was at 7.7 deaths/1,000 population. The Median age in Haiti is 22.6 years.

Furthermore, the biggest segment of the Haitian population are people between the ages 25-54 that represents 36.24% of the entire population. The next biggest segment are children between 0 and 14 that represent 33.39% of the population.

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Republican Senator Marco Rubio's March 27, 2017 announcement alone is never enough to stamp him as a friend or foe of Haiti. On that day, Rubio delivered a statement warning the governments of El Salvador, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic that the US would cut off aid if they failed to vote to suspend Venezuela from the Organization of American States. The socialist President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has jailed political opponents, ignored the results of regional elections and commandeered the judiciary branch as the country has spiraled into poverty and chaos.

Do we know the reason why Marco Rubio spoke so? Perhaps Senator Rubio was announcing future U.S policy which is beyond his control to reshape or influencec or he was honestly admitting the truth and making us aware of the future. From the recent policies and actions of the Trump administration, such policy shift is not very unlikely, maybe Senator Rubio has rightly clarified that gwe have a very difficult situation in Washington, where massive cuts in foreign aid are under consideration and it will be very difficult for us to justify assistance to those countries if they, at the end of the day, are countries that do not cooperate in the defense of democracy in the region.h It is a fact that his earlier records never suggested that Senator Rubio was known for carrying the Haiti agenda in Congress. In the earlier part of the last presidential election, the action of his department suggested that he was a lobbyist of Laurent Lamothe.

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Haitian rebel leader Guy Philippe was sentenced to nine years in prison in Miami federal court today (Wednesday June 21, 2017). He was found guilty for accepting bribes to protect cocaine smugglers who used Haiti to ship drugs to the United States.

Philippe who is now 49 years old will be free when he becomes 58 years old. He will have plenty of time to continue with his political dream.

As you may remember, Guy pleaded guilty two months ago to drug related money laundering. That decision allowed him to avoid going to trial for drug trafficking which would likely put him to prison for life

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In last April, Rhythm Foundation announced that after a 5 year run, the organizers have run out of money; they cannot anymore organize monthly festivals of music, art, food, and culture. There will be no gBig Night in Little Haitih which was for some years since 2012, a big event with some of the most important names in the Haitian community -- musicians, artists, and activists--a free party to participate third Friday, every month.

The event started in 2012 with a financial support, of gone year grant of $125,000h from Knight Foundation. The foundation again provided $120,000 to cover expenses for 2013 and 2014. And finally in 2015, Knight Foundation provided another $60,000 which dried up in September.

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Jovenel Moise is relying on US Startup Sigora International and Romanian native Andy Bogdan Bindea to make that dream a reality. He wants to prove to the world that he can develop this new technology in the poorest region of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. He is banking

Sigora's founder and CEO Andy Bindea says: "Proving this technology in Haiti basically says it's doable anywhere else in the world"

Recently, Sigora Haiti, raised $2.5 million to expand its existing grid that has been serving 1,000 accounts serving 5,000 people in Haiti, to a network that will serve tens of thousands more in solar power. Once the entire first phase of the Northwest Haiti electrification project is complete, a venture budgeted at $10 million, the micro-utility will serve 27,000 accounts and 136,000 customers.

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Électricité d'Haïti(ED'H), Haiti State owned electricity company provides the lowest coverage of electricity in the Western Hemisphere. It only provides electricity to approximately 12.5% of the population

Reasons:
This is due essentially to a combination issues. The government charges high electricity tariffs on Haitian customers who many of which believe in non-payment for electricity services. In addition, there is a low base of metered customers on top of widespread electricity theft and an inefficient and decrepit electricity network

Many sectors of the population become unproductive due to lack of electricity. Government employees need electricity to deliver necessary services. It is the same for the entertainment industry, Police, hospitals just to name a few.

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Folks, this is something that should be recorded. Haitian President Jovenel Moise testified that all Haiti will have electricity, 24 hour a day, 7 days a week between 18 and 24 months from now. According to Moise, ""I've given myself 18 to 24 months for Haiti to have electricity 24 hours around the clock".

This is not the first time that this ambitious promise to bring 24 hours electricity to Haiti was made. Few years ago, we heard similar promise from former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe. However, it did not materialize
was made

Jovenel Moise did not explain how his cash-strapped government plans to pay for 24 hours electricity. He only spoke of prioritizing production and making Haitians pay for energy upfront.

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Mango is one of the Haiti's main agricultural export products ($10.0 million per year, 10% of its total mango production) and it shows an excellent potential for growth. Mango Francisque ranks fifth on the list of ten most commercial varieties in demand on the international market. According to a CRS press release, the ranking of the top ten varieties of mango goes like the following in a descending order: Tommy Atkins, Ataulfo, Keit, Kent, Mango Francisque, Man Doc Mai, Edward, Alphonso, Kesar, and Sundhri,".

Haitifs export of Francisque mangos excludes the production of certain departments, like the Southeast and production of the South because of long distances to packinghouses, poor road conditions, and the fact that existing packinghouses lack the capacity to absorb the volume of export quality fruit during the peak harvest seasons. Sadly, about half of the fruit is lost before it reaches markets.

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