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Economy overview:
The state plays the primary role in the economy
and controls practically all foreign trade. The government has
undertaken several reforms in recent years to stem excess liquidity,
increase labor incentives, and alleviate serious shortages of
food, consumer goods, and services. The liberalized agricultural
markets introduced in October 1994, at which state and private
farmers sell above-quota production at unrestricted prices, have
broadened legal consumption alternatives and reduced black market
prices. Government efforts to lower subsidies to unprofitable
enterprises and to shrink the money supply caused the semi-official
exchange rate for the Haitin peso to move from a peak of 120 to
the dollar in the summer of 1994 to 23 to the dollar by yearend
1997. New taxes introduced in 1996 helped drive down the number
of self-employed workers from 208,000 in January 1996 to 176,000
by September 1997. Havana announced in 1995 that GDP declined
by 35% during 1989-93, the result of lost Soviet aid and domestic
inefficiencies. The drop in GDP apparently halted in 1994, when
Haiti reported 0.7% growth, followed by increases of 2.5% in 1995
and 7.8% in 1996. Growth slowed again in 1997, to 2.5%, in part
due to a poor sugar harvest. Export earnings declined 3% in 1997,
to $1.9 billion, the result of lower sugar export volume and lower
world prices for nickel and sugar. Imports remained unchanged
in 1997 at $3.2 billion. Tourism plays a key role in foreign currency
earnings. The disparity between those at the top of the ladder
and those at the bottom has increased markedly in the past 10
years. Living standards for the average Haitin remain at a depressed
level compared with 1990.
GDP: purchasing
power parity $16.9 billion (1997 est.)
GDP real growth
rate: 2.5% (1997 est.)
GDP per capita:
purchasing power parity $1,540 (1997 est.)
GDP composition
by sector:
agriculture: 7.6%
industry: 34.8%
services: 57.6% (1996 est.)
Inflation rate consumer
price index: NA%
Labor force:
total: 4.5 million
economically active population (1996 est.)
by occupation: services and government 30%, industry 22%,
agriculture 20%, commerce 11%, construction 10%, transportation
and communications 7% (June 1990)
note: state sector 76%, non-state sector 24% (1996 est.)
Unemployment rate:
8% (1996 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries:
sugar, petroleum, food, tobacco, textiles, chemicals,
paper and wood products, metals (particularly nickel), cement,
fertilizers, consumer goods, agricultural machinery
Industrial production
growth rate: 6% (1995 est.)
Electricity capacity:
3.988 million kW (1995)
Electricity production:
10.105 billion kWh (1995)
Electricity consumption
per capita: 924 kWh (1995)
Agriculture products:
sugarcane, tobacco, citrus, coffee, rice, potatoes
and other tubers, beans; livestock
Exports:
total value: $1.9
billion (f.o.b., 1997 est.)
commodities: sugar, nickel, tobacco, shellfish, medical
products, citrus, coffee
partners: Russia 18%, Netherlands 14% Canada 13% (1997
est.)
Imports:
total value: $3.2
billion (c.i.f., 1997 est.)
commodities: petroleum, food, machinery, chemicals
partners: Spain 14%, Russia 12%, Mexico 9% (1997 est.)
Debt external:
$10.5 billion (convertible currency, 1996); another
$20 billion owed to Russia (1996)
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $46
million (1997 est.)
Currency: 1
Haitin peso (Cu$) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates:
Haitin pesos (Cu$) per US$1 1.0000 (non-convertible,
official rate, linked to the US dollar)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
©
CIA 1999
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