(2015-10) Explanatory Note on the FY2015-2016 Budget
Summary — This MEF explanatory note, published in Le Moniteur (Special No. 4, October 1, 2015), presents the rationale, macro-fiscal targets and sectoral allocations of Haiti's FY2015-2016 budget. Total resources are projected at 122.67 billion gourdes, with domestic resources rising to 77.20 billion gourdes (62.93% of the budget) as external grants fall.
Key Findings
- Total budget resources projected at 122.67 billion gourdes for FY2015-2016, up 12.94 billion gourdes from FY2014-2015.
- Domestic resources rise 27% to 77.20 billion gourdes, lifting their budget share from 54.91% to 62.93%, while external grants fall 20% (27.00 to 21.63 billion gourdes).
- Current expenditure set at 58.32 billion gourdes (+16.93%) and capital expenditure at 64.3 billion gourdes (+5.33%); debt amortization credits rise 21.90% to 6.64 billion gourdes on heavier Petro Caribe repayments.
- Overall fiscal deficit including grants targeted to fall from 2.9% to 2.6% of GDP.
- Growth target of 3.6% real GDP growth led by agriculture (17% contribution), with the Ministry of Agriculture's budget nearly doubling from 6.6 to 11.9 billion gourdes.
- 42 agro-industrial micro-parks planned nationwide (at least one per department) over ten years.
Full Description
Published as a special issue of Le Moniteur (No. 4, October 1, 2015), this MEF note explains the design of the FY2015-2016 national budget following a difficult FY2014-2015 marked by falling Petrocaribe-related resources and a March 2015 budget rectification. The government sets macro-financial targets of 3.6% real GDP growth (driven by agriculture at 17% of growth), 7.7% average annual inflation, and a tax pressure of about 15%, financed in part by property-tax reform, a new business-license (patente) levy, and a fiscal stamp/lottery scheme. Total resources are projected at 122.67 billion gourdes (+12.94 billion versus FY2014-2015), with domestic resources up 27% to 77.20 billion gourdes, raising their share of the budget from 54.91% (2014-2015) to 62.93% (2015-2016) as external grants fall 20% (from 27.00 to 21.63 billion gourdes) - the government states an ambition of full domestic financing within five years. Total budgetary credits reach 122.68 billion gourdes: current expenditure of 58.32 billion gourdes (+16.93%, driven by police and teacher promotions) and capital expenditure of 64.3 billion gourdes (+5.33%), with debt amortization credits of 6.64 billion gourdes (+21.90%) reflecting heavier Petrocaribe loan repayments. The overall deficit including grants falls from 2.9% to 2.6% of GDP.
Sectorally, the economic sector receives 53.01% of budgetary credits, the social sector 25.8% (or 25.01% per the accompanying chart), the political sector 19.72%, and the cultural sector 1.47%. Agriculture is designated the centerpiece of the growth strategy: the Ministry of Agriculture's budget rises from 6.6 to 11.9 billion gourdes, and the domestic-resource share of its investment budget grows from 989.5 million to 4.4 billion gourdes, supported by a planned 7 billion gourdes/year special fund financed by a national loan. The note also outlines 42 planned agro-industrial micro-parks (at least one per department over ten years), new financing instruments (diaspora bonds, an international financial center, and debt-title buybacks), and priority public works in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien (drainage, road networks, solid-waste management, electrification).
Notes
Published as a special issue of Le Moniteur (No. 4) dated Jeudi 1er Octobre 2015; that gazette date is used as the publication month since the note itself is undated on its own pages. Some percentages in the text (e.g. social sector 25.8%) differ slightly from the accompanying chart labels (25.01%); both are reported as they appear in the source.