Haiti: coronavirus epidemic casts bleak economic prospects

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The scale of the Covid-19 epidemic is still limited in Haiti, where health authorities have identified 76 patients, six of whom have died. But the economic consequences are already considerable and the forecasts of the Haitian government alarming.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Port-au-Prince, Amélie Baron

Recession estimated at 4%, fall in tax revenue which will increase the deficit to more than 6% of GDP ... The Haitian economy already in crisis will plunge in the face of the coronavirus epidemic.

Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe warned that inflation could exceed 23%: "  Such a level of inflation increases the risks of food insecurity and precariousness of the population,"  explains Joseph Jouthe. To this must be added a possible  reduction in private transfers , without compensation, resulting from a slowdown in the economic activity of the countries of appeal in our diaspora.  "

Drop in money transfers from the diaspora

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Michel Patrick Boisvert, has quantified this fall in financial aid to Haitians living abroad: "  The Haitian diaspora being very affected, the flow of transfer of migrants could decline up to at 25% taking into account the impact of the pandemic on the American economy.  "

Without all these remittances, which represented a third of GDP, food insecurity will worsen. Before the coronavirus crisis, already 40% of Haitians were in need of emergency humanitarian aid.

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• Haiti
• Coronavirus
• Economic crisis
• Poverty

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