The history of debt and credit in the Republic of Haiti

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Aristide Government Gets 900 million Dollars in Aid
By Angeline Oyog, IPS, 31 January 1995. World Bank arranges to have an array of nations underwrite the returned Aristide government, on condition that Haiti use the money to pay its arrears to the World Bank, IMF and Inter-American Development Bank.
IADB OKs $27M for Haiti small-scale infrastructure project
Dow Jones Emerging Markets Report, 13 November 1996. The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) approved a $27 million soft loan to fund small-scale social and economic infrastructure projects meant to benefit the poorest groups. The loan is financing the second phase of a program started in 1995 because demand for the projects by communities and grassroots organizations.
For debt relief without conditions
By Melinda Miles, Haiti Progres, This Week in Haiti 27 October - 2 November 1999. The informal economy in Haiti is a direct result of the policies and programs that have been forced on the country by the government of the United States and the international financial institutions. The informal economy in Haiti has really become a viscious cycle—the very items keeping the unemployed alive through informal labor were what cost them their jobs in the first place.
Political crisis causing foreign aid to fall
By Ives Marie Chanel, IPS, 27 December 1999. Desperately needed foreign aid has been withheld from Haiti by some donors due to the country's failure to consolidate its political infrastructure.
Caricom in plea for Haiti
By Canute James, Financial Times, 11 July 2001. Following an agreement between Haiti's government and the main opposition groups on restructuring the body responsible for elections, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) has asked donors and creditors to release promised funds in order to help resolve the political crisis that has crippled the country.
Improving productivity to lift more families out of poverty
Fonkoze newsletter, Washington D.C., 19 November 2001. In addition to ongoing efforts to access more capital and build the loan fund, Fonkoze is working hard to improve the productivity of its lending operations.
Fonkoze innovates new products to serve the poor
Fonkoze newsletter, [23 August 2002]. Fonkoze, Haiti's Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor. Equates personal endebtedness with democratic power. Wants to make small traders into capitalists by putting them into debt. Meet the needs of small savers and borrowers by bringing them into the main-line microfinance program.
Haitian government says it can't pay debt backlog
This Week in Haiti, Haiti Progres, 23–29 April 2003. Haiti no longer can continue to make payments on its debt arrears to multilateral lending institutions because of its dwindling foreign reserves. The government has decided for the IDB [InterAmerican Development Bank] and the World Bank to use debt service money instead to carry out projects which relieve public suffering and hunger.
Haiti heads down debt black hole
This Week in Haiti, Haiti Progres, 18–24 June 2003. Last month, the Haitian government agreed to undertake strict austerity measures proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the hopes of unblocking millions of dollars in frozen international aid and loans. Haiti must follow IMF directives to cut deficit spending, remove industry from democratic accountability, curtail the instrument of people's political power, and lower tariffs.
Short and Bitter Lives
By Paul Farmer, Le Monde diplomatique, July 2003. Haiti᾵s health care system was in collapse when in 1994 it was decided to provde loans to restore basic health and social services, but for unrelated political reasons, this help never materialized. The embargo of 2000 at the expense of the northern hemisphere's most vulnerable population. The IDB pointed out that the country's economic stagnation was an effect of this embargo.
IDB approves $176.9 million in soft loans for Haiti
Inter-American Development Bank press release, 13 November 2003. Three soft loans approved for resources for programs to repair basic infrastructure, foster community development and boost agricultural output. Haiti's basic infrastructure has deteriorated to critical levels, hindering private sector investments and activities.