economy - Haiti Observer Blog

With the weak economy and poor living conditions in Haiti, many women, including teenagers, have settled to becoming prostitutes just to earn. Prostitution is illegal in the country but this does not stop women from getting paid for sex. Since the 1940s, prostitution rings have been active in the country and it only got worse as time went by and catastrophes hit the Caribbean nation.

According to a report in 2005, Haitian children were being trafficked in the Dominican Republic, where they were forced to work as slaves or prostitutes. Many of these children were orphaned, while others can no longer be supported and fed by their parents. As a result, they are brought to the Dominican Republic and sold to families and individuals looking for a child laborer. There were reports that the trafficked children have been physically abused too and some were so traumatized they can not recall how they got to that situation.

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The Martelly-Lamothe administration of Haiti have recently been meeting and trying to collaborate with other countries, especially with its neighbors for mutual economic development and international cooperation. In addition, Haiti has been participating and joining in different international organizations such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) where the country is an active full member.

To expand Haiti's international relations, the government has been in negotiation with the Dominican Republic for a Free Trade Agreement. This aims to promote regional development through open trade of goods and services between the two nations. With the DR's newly-elected President Danilo Medina, it appears that this agreement is a great probability.

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Haiti has finally reached the point where the country could not go any further. The Island country of Haiti has been ranked as the poorest country in the entire world.

For a population of 10,123,787 people, 77 percent of the Haitian population is poor, the highest in the world. Its GDP is $7.35 billion (66th lowest) and per capita, the GDP is $726 which is 22nd lowest.

The world bank remarked that more than 50 percent of the Haitian population live on less than $1;00 a day and close to 80 percent of Haitians in Haiti lives on less than $2.00 a day

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Understanding the vulnerability in which the Haitian population is today in regard to high cost of food, the Haitian government has reacted by creating a price stabilization Commission. In addition, the government has ordered 300,000 bags of rice in order to affect the current price of rice in the market.

The 300,000 bags of rice is expected to be injected immediately into the market in order to reduce the price of rice. The Martelly Lamothe government informed the public that they will continue to follow this policy every time they see an increase on price of rice.

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Bernard Mevs Hospital is underway to receive a total of $442,100 dollars benefit, courtesy of Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Grant. This funding is aimed at facilitating educational training seminars for medical professionals and practitioners in Haiti. This announcement comes after the Bernard Mevs Hospital received the state-of-art Medical equipment which has eventually transformed it into the sole well equipped medical facility to handle major surgeries and critical trauma victims.

During a visit to the hospital, Bill Frist, a renowned US surgeon and senator, said that there was great need in holding educational seminars which will enable Haitian medical professionals to handle the new equipment with competence. With the State-of-art equipment acting as the center of attraction, there will be an increased number of competent medical professionals from Bernard Mevs Hospitals as well as other high profile hospitals in Haiti.

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Haiti is part of the number of island nations in the Caribbean that have been succumbed to foreign rule for decades and centuries but mostly retained their independence by the 1900s. But ironically for the once conquered Haiti, the nation formally ruled over its neighboring country Dominican Republic in the early 1800s for more than twenty years. The Dominican were faced with poverty and violence under the Haitian military leader Jean-Pierre Boyer and his soldiers until it gained independence in 1844.

For the 22 years of Haitian occupation over the Dominican Republic, Haitian priest Francis Haver who claims to be a Dominican has recently stated that all of his countrymen should kneel before Dominicans and apologize. He mentioned this during the blessing of two housing projects of the Dominican Republic government in the presence of the country's President Leonel Fernandez in the Guerra municipality. With the advancements of the Dominican Republic's economy as compared to that of Haiti's, Father Haver believes that Haiti shouldn't have ruled over its neighbor in the first place. This is so both countries could have had a better working relationship in terms of economic growth and development. But should present-day Haitians apologize for the mistakes of their ancestors?

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Newly-appointed Prime Minster Laurent Lamothe has been continuing to find ways in providing Haiti and its citizens, as well as its foreign allies, with a more balanced and developed economy, political body, and society. But these efforts seem to lack something in order to provide positive long-term effects in the near future. This is because of the difficulty in harmonizing the different sectors to help the Martelly-Lamothe government's goal.

To solve the differences of the essentials sectors in Haiti, mostly that of the public and the private, Prime Minister Lamothe launched the Council of Economic and Social Development in the 9th of July, 2012. The council is the new "strategy" of the government that will focus on simplifying and assisting the introduction of investments and initiatives, most especially from the private sector, to Haiti and on the government's future plans and projects. Mr. Jerry Tardieu, the CEO of the Royal Oasis Hotel, was assigned by the Prime Minister as the President of the said body while Louis Naud Pierre was given the General Coordinator position.

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The Northwest region of Haiti, which has been suffering from prolonged drought periods, will be bound to experience a new change altogether after construction of artificial lakes. The project which involved the construction of over 160 artificial lakes was well appreciated by the local dwellers that would use the new resource for fishing, watering their animals and using it for irrigation. With the established artificial lakes up and running, local dwellers will be in a position to adequately suffice their food needs and earn some income from the economic activities promoted by the new resource in the region, President Martelly said.

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Haiti's aim for socio-economic development has paved way for both local and international bodies and institutions to cooperate in providing the country and its people different means to attain this. Through technology, these entities have found various innovative ways to assist most especially the poor sector of Haitian society. The Mobile Money initiative, which was launched in the country last 2010 by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), continues to offer promising results.

The Haiti Mobile Money Initiative organized by the Gates Foundation has recently reached a five-million worth of transactions. This resulted in Digicel and Voila, two of the country's mobile network companies, sharing an award worth 3.2 million dollars for this milestone, which marks the final award of the initiative's ten-million-dollar incentive fund. The growing success of mobile money assists Haitians with a more practical and easier way through their mobile phones in taking care of monetary transactions as ninety percent of them do not have bank accounts. Aside from the HMMI, the government has launched two projects involving mobile money called "Aba Grangou" and "Ti Manman Cheri". The "Ti Manman Cheri", otherwise known as "Dear Little Mother", aims to help Haitian youth that are facing extreme poverty.

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