(2021-09) Summary report on the state of public finances

MEF - Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances • 2021

Summary — This report from the Haitian Ministry of Economy and Finance provides a summary of the public finance situation for the fiscal year October 2020 to September 2021. It highlights the challenges faced, including insecurity and natural disasters, which led to a revised budget. Despite these difficulties, revenue collection met the rectified targets, though fiscal pressure decreased, and public debt service significantly increased.

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Key Findings

The fiscal year 2020-2021 was severely impacted by insecurity, the President's assassination, and natural disasters, leading to a revised budget.
Despite adverse events, revenue mobilization met the rectified budget targets, though the fiscal pressure rate declined from 6% to 5.6%.
Budgetary expenditures increased slightly to 124.7 billion gourdes, with current expenditures representing 88% of total spending and exceeding collected revenues.
Public debt service nearly tripled, rising by 169% to 160.4 billion gourdes, largely due to treasury bond reimbursements.
The cash-based budgetary balance showed a deficit of 28.5 billion gourdes, and monetary financing accelerated to address petroleum shortages.

Full Description

This document, published by the Haitian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), offers a comprehensive summary of the public finance situation and the main aggregates of the Tableau des Opérations Financières de l'État (TOFE) for the fiscal year spanning October 2020 to September 2021. The period was marked by significant adverse events, including a pervasive climate of insecurity, the assassination of the President, a devastating earthquake in the Southern peninsula, and Cyclone Grace, which necessitated a rectification of the initial budget. Despite these challenges, the MEF implemented measures and reforms aimed at improving public finance management, such as the Economic and Financial Governance Pact and the Post-Covid Economic Recovery Plan. The report details that while revenue mobilization aligned with the rectified budget targets (96.36 billion gourdes collected against 96.43 billion projected), the fiscal pressure rate decreased from 6% in 2019-2020 to 5.6% in 2020-2021. Budgetary expenditures saw a slight increase, reaching 124.7 billion gourdes, with current expenditures (114.1 billion gourdes) exceeding collected revenues and representing 88% of total spending. A critical finding is the near tripling of public debt service, which rose by 169% to 160.4 billion gourdes, largely driven by the reimbursement of treasury bonds, which accounted for 80% of the debt service. The document also notes a deficit in the cash-based budgetary balance and an acceleration of monetary financing by the Central Bank (BRH) to address petroleum product shortages.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2020-10-01 — 2021-09-30

Keywords

Finances publiques, Budget, TOFE, Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances, Haïti, Exercice fiscal 2020-2021, Recettes fiscales, Dépenses publiques, Dette publique, Pression fiscale, Financement monétaire, Crise économique, Gouvernance économique

Entities

Notes

MEF /documentation/doc_rapport page. Published 29 Sept 2021; site title truncated ("...Finances publiques ..."). Coverage inferred as FY2020-2021 from publication date; VERIFY exact fiscal period on open. Family-2 outturn narrative.