Haiti is the most impoverished country in the Americas. Eighty percent of the population lives in abject poverty and one out of nine children dies before reaching her fifth birthday. Life expectancy is 53 years and nearly half the population cannot read.
Haiti’s government is expected to divert between $40 million to $50 million from fighting this poverty to reimburse international financial institutions (IFIs) that were established to help countries like Haiti fight poverty. Over half of Haiti’s $1.3 billion debt is for loans granted to Haiti’s dictatorships, especially the brutal and corrupt Duvalier father-son dictatorship.
Haiti’s onerous and odious debt should be cancelled immediately without conditions, as a matter of justice and as an essential tool in the global fight to end poverty under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The IMF projects that without debt relief, more than one-tenth of the central government’s revenue over the next four years will go to foreign creditors to service the country’s external debt. Imagine the impact if this money were instead used for poverty reduction.
Currently, Haiti, along with many of the world's most impoverished countries is facing a new kind of crisis: food security. With rising food prices on staples such as rice, milk, corn and wheat, what was once barely affordable is now is now unaffordable.
Read our assessment and analysis of the food crisis, solutions. Then, see what work we've been doing with our partners on Haiti's debt. As things develop, we'll give you ways to take action.
