Port-au-Prince (AFP)
Gas stations closed in Port-au-Prince, motorists lining up in the hope of buying a few drops of fuel ... For over a week, petroleum products, including gasoline and diesel, are becoming increasingly rare in Haiti.
In the capital, as in provincial cities, the situation is the same: drivers lined up at the few gas stations that still sell fuel, the price of which has risen sharply.
"I've been in this endless line for hours, and when service stations are not closed, people selling gasoline do it drop-in," a motorcycle taxi driver complains. the most frequent means of transport in Port-au-Prince.
The president of the National Association of Petroleum Distributors (ANADIPP) confirmed to AFP that the fuel shortage was very real. "There is indeed a scarcity of petroleum products in the local market," David Turnier told AFP.
A source close to one of the main companies importing petroleum products told AFP that it was a cash flow problem. "The Haitian state does not have enough economic means to pay its debts to companies that import gasoline into the country and we, when we have no money, we can not place orders" said the source on condition of anonymity.
For more than a year, the PetroCaribe program that allowed the Haitian state to buy petroleum products on credit and at a better price has been suspended because of the deterioration of relations between the United States and Venezuela.
Hurricane Dorian, which is currently crossing parts of the Caribbean, has also reportedly delayed delivery of petroleum products this week.
The government, which has been resigning for more than five months, has no budget and is faced with increasingly scarce international aid, but tries in vain to reassure the population.
Because of this shortage, the gallon of gasoline that normally sells for 224 gourdes, or $ 2.33, has gone up to 500 gourdes ($ 5.20) in some areas.
© 2019 AFP