Economy

Haiti remains the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. Comparative social and economic indicators show Haiti falling behind other low-income developing countries (particularly in the hemisphere) since the 1980s. Haiti now ranks 153rd of 177 countries in the UN's Human Development Index. About 80% of the population lives in abject poverty, ranking the country second-to-last in the world for that metric.

Nearly 70.5% of all Haitians depend on the agriculture sector, which consists mainly of small-scale subsistence farming. The country has experienced little formal job creation over the past decade, although the informal economy is growing. It has consistently ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world on the Corruption Perceptions Index.

Under the second Aristide administration and the Alexandre-Latortue administration, difficulty in reaching agreements with international sponsors denied Haiti badly needed budget and development assistance. In addition to these geopolitical obstacles, another major impediment to development during the last 20 years has been the repeated episodes of violence that have rocked the country. While there was relative calm under the governments of Fanmi Lavalas, this may not have been sufficiently long-lived to convince foreign investors to commit significant capital to Haiti.

Consequently, the country has experienced shortages, severe trade deficits and periodic high inflation during this 20-year period. Reports have suggested that most of Haiti's flow of foreign reserves, during at least the last five years, has come from a combination of remittances from the sizeable expatriate community and taxes on incoming phone calls.

Agriculture

Agriculture occupies the dominate position in Haiti's economy; the cash crops of Haiti include coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, corn, sorghum and wood. However, migration to the cities has changed much of this since the 1950's. As of the late 80's, agriculture occupied about 35% of the GDP, though the continued migration to the cities, as well as poor technology and undernourished farmers probably has dropped agriculture's role in the economy since that time. In 2001, production of agricultural products contracted by 5%.

As in many other Latin American nations, coffee was long the primary agricultural export and cash crop. However, lower prices for coffee worldwide have made it unprofitable for small farmers, and in 2001, coffee stopped being the main export. As a result of the price drop, many Haitians have chosen to take advantage of the Fair Trade movement in selling their export. Other than the drop in price, other factors have contributed to the decline in coffee production, such as poor road conditions leading from the isolated areas in which coffee is grown in Haiti. Political instability and national debt have allowed many rock roads to deteriorate, so that farmers now have trouble getting the crop to Port-au-Prince to sell. In addition to this, in the early 90's a fungal disease known as coffee rust ravaged the crop throughout the country.

US Economic and Development Assistance

Political insecurity and the failure of Haiti's governments to invest in developing the country's natural and human resources contribute significantly to the country's current state of underdevelopment. US efforts to strengthen democracy and to rebuild Haiti's economy aim to rectify this condition. The US has been Haiti's largest donor since 1973; between FY 95 and FY 99, the US contributed roughly $884 million in assistance to Haiti. These funds have been used to support programs that have addressed a variety of problems. Among the initiatives funds have supported are:

• Agricultural development programs that have endeavoured to revitalise Haiti's coffee sector and to help thousands of Haitian farmers adopt sustainable agricultural practices and protect the environment.
• Health care programs that have supported child immunisation and have helped provide primary care to nearly half of the Haitian population.
• Population programs that have expanded modern family-planning practices in many rural areas.
• Food assistance programs that include a school lunch program that feeds around 500,000 children daily.
• Teacher training programs that have included 6,000 educators at the primary and secondary level.

In addition to financial support, the US provides human resources. US Peace Corps volunteers returned to Haiti in 1995, largely focusing their efforts on income generation programs in Haiti's rural areas. Many private citizens travel regularly to Haiti or reside there for extended periods to work in humanitarian projects.

Haiti has been plagued for decades by extremely high unemployment and underemployment. The precipitous decline in urban assembly sector jobs, from a high of 80,000 in 1986 to fewer than 17,000 in 1994, exacerbated the scarcity of jobs. To revitalise the economy, assistance has attempted to create opportunities for stable, sustainable employment for the growing population, particularly those who comprise the country's vast informal economy. A post-intervention transitional program of short-term job creation, principally in small towns and rural areas, provided employment to as many as 50,000 workers per day throughout the country. More recently, programs that help to increase commercial bank lending to small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs, especially in the agricultural sector, have helped to create jobs and foster economic growth.

Additional efforts in economic revitalisation include the establishment of the US-Haiti Business Development Council, an Overseas Private Investment Corporation commercial loan programme and inclusion of Haiti within the Caribbean Basin Initiative.