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

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.