Last week, Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant confirmed that the government would have to take an unpopular decision and announce the increase in fuel prices at the pump, without specifying a date, indicating only that this decision will be taken after consultation with the Distributors of petroleum products, transport unions and even consumers...

An announcement already badly received by the trade unions "National action of the drivers" and the "Trade unions of Haitian land transporters" which already call for a wave of mobilization to defeat the Executive's plan to raise fuel prices, highlighting the precarious situation in which the majority of the population lives. The state must look elsewhere if it wants to bail out its coffers, the leaders of these unions stressed, recalling that the increase in the price of fuels will automatically have repercussions on the prices on the prices of basic necessities.

Economist Eddy Labossiere, for his part, welcomes the Government's decision to adjust pump prices "a necessary measure" and calls on the authorities to widen the tax base in order to allow the State to acquire additional means to intervene for the benefit of the population.

However, for or against this increase, the Haitian state no longer has choice, the burden that represents the subsidy of petroleum products is too heavy (between 55 to 75 gourdes per gallon) and the State must gradually reduce this subsidy, according to the Head of State who states that "Haitians must understand that this problem must be absolutely solved."

The State Treasury can no longer continue to subsidize fuel while the situation of the economy in Haiti is at the edge of the abyss https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20863-haiti-flash-haiti-s-economy-at-the-edge-of-the-abyss.html Consequences, for the first 6 months of the current fiscal year, this subsidy has already cost the Government nearly 6 billion gourdes...

Remember that the government's oil revenues, which accounted for nearly 16% of the Treasury's revenues, have collapsed in recent months. By February 2017 they were nearly 29 million Gourdes against 963 million Gdes in February 2016 and nearly 23 million Gdes in March 2017 against just over 850 million in March 2016 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20613-haiti-economycollapse-of-state-oil-revenues.html due to the unadjusted fuel prices, the devaluation of the national currencies (nearly 70 Gourdes for $ 1) and the Government's continued subsidy on each gallon of gasoline, diesel and kerosene, an amount varying between 55 and 75 gourdes.

TB/ HaitiLibre