Thursday September 28, the Council of Ministers approved the 2023-2024 budget which will be in application from October 1st, 2023 and which reflects the main orientations contained in the framework letter from the Prime Minister sent to the authorizing officers on August 2 https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/cadrage-budget-2023-2024.pdf . This budget is a continuation of the efforts initiated since last year for the development of the second medium-term budgetary framework 2023-2026.

The overall budget envelope for the fiscal year is 320.64 billion gourdes, based on three priority areas: economic growth, social stability and improvement of the security situation.

Projected expenditure excluding debt amortization is of the order of 283.21 billion gourdes, an increase of 19.51% compared to the previous budget. 50.6% of expenses will be devoted to the management of current affairs.

Public investment expenditure in the budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year is estimated at 158.41 billion gourdes and will be financed to the tune of 28.8% by the Public Treasury (33.92 billion gourdes), B>68.5% through donations and loans (77.2 billion gourdes).

The basic assumptions for the 2024 projections are essentially based on the strengthening of the security climate, the construction of resilient infrastructure identified in the PRIPS (Southern Peninsula Integrated Recovery Plan), the stability of the exchange rate and the availability petroleum products at the pump.

The 2023-2024 budget is developed around 3 priorities: Reconnect with economic growth, improve social stability, improve security conditions.

Let's recall that in the framing letter of the 2023-2024 budget project Ariel Henry had stressed that the emphasis would be placed on economic growth, social stability and the security situation "[...] the Haitian economy is beset by multiple difficulties. The major factors negatively impacting political governance still remain, namely : the socio-political crisis and the deterioration of the security climate. It is also necessary to mention the climatic and natural, health and economic shocks which have aggravated the food insecurity which has affected a majority of the population for several years. Added to these shocks are internal and external phenomena causing an amplification of the rise in the prices of petroleum products on the national market. The internal phenomena are : the increase in transaction costs linked to the deterioration of the security climate in the country; scarcity of petroleum products during certain periods leading to disruption of the supply chain; the drop in the volume of imports; high exchange rate volatility. This situation has further exacerbated the major challenges we face [...]"

Based on the basic assumptions of the 2024 projections, this budget promises to rely primarily on strengthening the security climate, building resilient infrastructure, the stability of the exchange rate and the availability of petroleum products at the pump, reducing the inflation at 15.8% at the end of the year and achieving GDP growth of +0.7% after 5 years of decline.

Download the 2023-2024 Budget framing letter (PDF in French) : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/cadrage-budget-2023-2024.pdf

SL/ HaitiFree