Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is still struggling to rebuild after a devastating earthquake in January. In an effort to help this country, the World Bank announced that it has eliminated the country’s debt. According to AFP, that means that Haiti will not have to repay $36 million owed to the International Development Association. “Haiti now has no further amounts payable to the World Bank,” it said according to news reports.
Contributions from 13 nations including Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland made the debt cancellation possible. Haiti has not had to repay any of the debt since the January earthquake. “Relieving Haiti’s remaining debt is part of our effort to pursue every avenue to help Haiti’s reconstruction efforts,” Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said in the statement, according to AFP. “We will continue to work in close cooperation with the Haitian government and our international partners to support the country’s recovery and longer-term development.”
Not only has this debt been canceled, but The World Bank also gave Haiti $479 million in grants to help with recovery through June of 2011. The US is also offering help in the form of HR 5160, The Haiti Economic Lift Program Act. The Act makes it easier for Haitian textile and apparel to be exported to the US. “We have heard a lot about the challenges facing Haiti: they are the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere; they suffer from between 70-80 percent unemployment in the formal sector, even before the earthquake; and three-quarters of the population lives on less than $2 a day,” said Representative Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), a longtime advocate for Haiti and lead sponsor H.R. 5160, according to CanadaViews.ca. “We have heard little, however, about the important strides that the government and people of Haiti were making to promote economic growth and development prior to the earthquake. Once the earthquake hit, it became clear that something needed to be done to help Haiti regain the footing that it had worked so hard to attain. This legislation does that. It is not a panacea for all of the new challenges that Haiti now faces, but it sends a clear message to buyers and investors that Haiti does not stand alone in meeting the challenges before it. We, Americans, stand with Haiti.”
Tags: Economy of Haiti, World Bank, The World Bank, Haiti Debt, Haiti
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