(2007-06) Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti of the Economic and Social Council (E/2007/78)

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) • 2007 • 26 pages

Summary — Third ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group report, based on an April 2007 mission, covering Haiti's macroeconomic gains and chronic social indicators, growth sectors, weak state institutions, and development planning and aid coordination.

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Key Findings

Haiti's macroeconomic turnaround was real but fragile: growth reached 2.5 percent in fiscal 2006, inflation fell from 38 percent in 2003 to 8.6 percent in February 2007, and the country reached the HIPC decision point while the IDB announced debt cancellation. Social indicators remained dire, with per capita GDP of 450 dollars, 78 percent of the population living on under 2 dollars a day, under-five mortality of 120 per 1,000 and 97 percent deforestation. The state apparatus was extremely thin, with about 46,000 civil servants (0.7 percent of the population) and roughly 80 percent of education and health services delivered privately, while remittances of 1.65 billion dollars in 2006 were more than three times state spending. The Group identified tourism, agriculture and textiles as growth engines and pressed for civil service reform, justice reform and better-coordinated, nationally aligned aid.

Full Description

This third report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti presents conclusions from its mission to Haiti of 18 to 21 April 2007, including the first diplomatic visit to Cité Soleil after security operations and field visits to Ouanaminthe on the Dominican border. It contrasts encouraging macroeconomic results, growth of 2.5 percent in fiscal 2006, inflation cut from 38 percent in 2003 to 8.6 percent in February 2007, HIPC decision point and IDB debt cancellation, with chronically negative social indicators: per capita GDP of 450 dollars, 78 percent of the population below 2 dollars a day, the hemisphere's highest child and maternal mortality, and 97 percent deforestation. The report identifies tourism, agriculture including biofuels, and the textile and assembly industry as growth engines, analyzes the extreme weakness of public institutions, with only 46,000 civil servants, and its consequences for aid management, and reviews the transition from the Interim Cooperation Framework to the national growth and poverty reduction strategy. It concludes with recommendations to the Haitian authorities and international community on capacity building, aid alignment and coordination.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2006 — 2007-04

Keywords

E/2007/78, ECOSOC, Ad Hoc Advisory Group, macroeconomic stabilization, HIPC debt relief, poverty, growth engines, tourism, agriculture, textile industry, HOPE Act, Cité Soleil, Ouanaminthe, institutional capacity, aid coordination, series:ecosoc-adhoc-haiti

Entities

United Nations Economic and Social Council, Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti, MINUSTAH, World Bank, IMF, Inter-American Development Bank, UNDP, Jean-Max Bellerive, Jacques-Édouard Alexis, Gert Rosenthal, Rebecca Grynspan, Haitian National Police, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ECLAC

Notes

UN document E/2007/78; ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group report series; ayitistats wave B