The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the first review of Haiti's performance under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. Completion of the review will enable an immediate disbursement of US$13.1 million, bringing total disbursements under the program to date to US$26.2 million.

Haiti's ECF arrangement was approved on July 21, 2010 together with the full relief of the country's outstanding debt to the Fund of US$268 million. Both decisions formed part of a broad strategy to support Haiti's longer term reconstruction plans, following the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.

Following the Executive Board discussion on Haiti, Mr. Naoyuki Shinohara, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, issued the following statement:

"The authorities are to be commended for their good policy implementation, despite the challenging international and domestic environments. The Haitian economy is recovering, and just over a year after the devastating earthquake, essential state functions have been reinstated and prudent macroeconomic policies have helped support growth and contain inflation to single digit levels.

The economic outlook is favorable, provided that the authorities and the international community make concerted efforts to accelerate the reconstruction and facilitate the transition from disaster recovery to policies aimed at ensuring high and sustained growth and poverty reduction. In this context, the disbursement of donor pledges together with the authorities' timely implementation of structural reforms, notably in the areas of economic governance and the business environment are equally important.

The authorities' program in Fiscal Year 2011 aims at consolidating the recovery and reconstruction efforts. The key fiscal objectives are to raise domestic revenue, contain current expenditure, and align the budget to support the reconstruction priorities and poverty-reduction spending in the context of sustainable public financing. These fiscal commitments will need to be complemented by further improvements in public financial management and economic governance. Monetary and exchange rate policies aim at containing inflation to single digit levels, and appropriately absorbing capital inflows. The program continues to be supported by a comprehensive medium-term technical assistance strategy, in close coordination with Haiti's development partners."

HL/ HaitiLibre