Friday, Jean Baden Dubois, the Governor of the Bank of the Republic (BRH) in a press conference expressed concern about the deterioration of the national economy in particular by the depreciation of the Gourde against the US dollar and the inflation which crossed 17.7% in April https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27867-haiti-economy-record-inflation-at-177.html and political unrest, believes that these factors among others, contribute to the degradation of the socio-economic situation has become unsustainable for the population.

To remedy the fall of the Gourdes (93.87 gourdes for 1 US dollar) Governor Dubois announces a series of administrative and regulatory measures, direct monetary policy measures and incentives to stabilize the exchange rate on the market local.

Governor Dubois announces interest rate adjustment for BRH bonds: 91-day bonds will increase from 12% to 22%, 28-day bills from 8 to 14% and 7-day bills from 6 to 10%, a measure which according to the boss of the BRH will have positive spin-offs for the clients of the commercial banks. For young entrepreneurs and the productive sectors, the BRH intends to facilitate their credit and makes it one of its priorities.

Regarding the pressure on the US dollar and its scarcity and in order to stabilize the exchange rate and fight against speculation, he announced an injection of 150 million US dollars on the foreign exchange market by September 2019, including 25 million on June 4 and 15 million on June 6, 2019 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27880-haiti-news-zapping.html combined with coercive measures (with sanctions) to avoid the slide of the exchange rate of the market formal market.

For commercial banks, the BRH offers them incentives such as the exemption from minimum reserves and term deposits in Gourdes with a base interest rate of 7% or more per annum.

However, Governor Dubois fears that the socio-political situation is further deteriorating and hindering the achievement of the objectives of these measures, he also calls on political actors to compromise to find a consensual solution to the crisis and to promote macroeconomic stability essential for economic growth in Haiti...

TB/ HaitiLibre