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External debt of Haiti

January 01, 1970

The external debt of Haiti is a notable and controversial national debt which mostly stems from an outstanding 1825 compensation to former slavers of the French colonial empire and later 20th century corruptions.

Sticker in Port-au-Prince demanding repayment from the French government

The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Europe allowed rebel Haitian slaves to overpower French colonial rule and gain independence in the 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution. The restored French monarchy, supported by European monarchies, sent the 1825 French expedition to Haiti to demand, with military menace, massive compensations: Haiti had to repay the French government and former slaveholders the modern equivalent of US$105 billion, later reduced to US$21 billion for the loss of massively profitable slave-plantation assets and revenues. This price for independence was financed by French banks and the American Citibank, and finally paid off in 1947.

Later, the corrupt Duvalier dynasty added to the country's debts. The Duvaliers are believed to have used the money to expand their power and for their personal enrichment. In the early 21st century, and especially after the devastating earthquake in 2010, the World Bank and some other governments had planned to forgive the debt. Instead, remaining parts of Haiti's debt repayments were postponed. France forgave a more recent loan with a balance of US$77 million, but has refused to consider repaying the independence debt.

These debts are denounced as the root of contemporary Haiti's poverty and a case of odious debt, debt forced upon a population with abusive force. In 2022, The New York Times published a dedicated investigative series on that matter.[1]

List of debt edit

Independence debt edit

Main article: Haiti indemnity controversy

Haiti was the richest and most productive European colony in the world going into the 1800s.[2][3] Haiti's legacy of debt began shortly after a widespread slave revolt against the French, with Haitians gaining their independence from France in 1804. President of the United States Thomas Jefferson – fearing that slaves gaining their independence would spread to the United States – stopped sending aid that began under his predecessor John Adams and pursued international isolation of Haiti during his tenure.[4] France had also pursued a policy that prevented Haiti from participating in trade in the Atlantic.[3] This isolation on the international stage made Haiti desperate for economic relief.[5]

France, with warships at the ready, sailed to Haiti in 1825 and demanded Haiti to compensate France for its loss of slaves and its slave colony.[6][7] In exchange for French recognition of Haiti as a sovereign republic, France demanded payment of 150 million francs.[6] In addition to the payment, France required that Haiti provide a fifty percent discount on its exported goods to them, making repayment more difficult.[5] In 1838, France agreed to reduce the debt to 90 million francs to be paid over a period of 30 years to compensate former plantation owners who had lost their property; the 2004 equivalent of US$21 billion.[6][5][8] Historians have traced loan documents from the time of the 1825 Ordinance, through the various refinancing efforts, to the final remittance to National City Bank (now Citibank) in 1947.[3]

Duvalier debt edit

From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was ruled by the corrupt and oppressive Duvalier family. Loans incurred during this period alone were estimated to account for approximately 40% of Haiti's debt in 2000, before debt relief was granted. These funds were used to strengthen the Duvaliers' control over Haiti and for various fraudulent schemes. Large amounts were simply stolen by the Duvaliers. Jean-Claude Duvalier, who ran the country from 1971 to 1986 was exiled to France after being overthrown and has been charged with theft and misappropriation of funds during his rule.[9]

Debt cancellation efforts edit

Haiti had a total external debt of $2.1 billion at its peak.[when?][10][11][dubious – discuss] Jubilee USA, Jubilee Debt Campaign (UK)[12] and others, called for the immediate cancellation of Haiti's debt to multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Inter-American Development Bank, based on the argument that this debt is unjust (under a legal term called odious debt) and that Haiti could better use the funds going toward debt service for education, health care, and basic infrastructure.[13] Several organizations in the U.S. issued action alerts around the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution, and a Congressional letter to the U.S. Treasury,[14] including Jubilee USA, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti and Pax Christi USA.

Between 2006 and 2009, Haiti was added to the World Bank and IMF's highly indebted poor country initiative (HIPC).[15] The Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution[16] had 66 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives as of February 2008. In September 2009, following a program of economic and social reforms, Haiti met the requirements for completion of the HIPC program, qualifying it for cancellation of its external debt obligations. This cut the face value of the debt by $757 million[17] and future debt service (including interest) by $1.2 billion.[18]

Haiti's largest creditor, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), was part of the debt relief initiative, but the initiative only canceled loans made before 2005, and the IDB had lent more since. Haiti's debt to the IDB amounts to approximately half a billion dollars with debt service payments projected by the IMF to increase in the following years. The U.S. government has been paying this debt service on Haiti's behalf since before the quake.[19]

Following the devastating effects of the early 2010 earthquake in Haiti there came renewed calls for a further debt cancellation from civil society groups. In light of the tragedy and new borrowing that lifted Haiti's debts back to $1.25 billion, groups such as the Jubilee Debt Campaign called for this debt to be dropped. Furthermore, during the aftermath emergency money was offered to the Haitian government from the IMF in the form of loans. Civil society groups protested the offer of loans and not grants for such an already heavily indebted country trying to cope with such destruction. Some have argued, however, that because Haiti's annual debt service payments are so low ($9 million a year, net of the debt service paid on Haiti's behalf by the U.S. government), canceling the debt would do little to help the country recover from the earthquake, and should not be a priority for activism.[17]

Agence France Press reported on 26 January 2010 that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said that Petrocaribe, Venezuela's cut-rate regional energy alliance, will forgive Haiti's debt. Haiti's debt with Venezuela is $295 million, about one-quarter of its foreign debt of $1.25 billion, according to International Monetary Fund figures.[18]

On 28 May 2010, the World Bank announced it had waived Haiti's remaining debts to the bank.[20] The value of the waiver was $36 million.[21]

In 2015, France forgave about US$77 million (~$96.8 million in 2023) in modern-day debt, unrelated to independence.[22] In 2004, the Haitian government demanded that France repay Haiti for the millions of dollars paid between 1825 and 1947 as compensation for the property loss of French slaveholders and landowners as a result of the slaves' freedom.[23] In 2015, the French government rejected this demand as well as any reparations in general.[24][25]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Porter, Catherine; Méheut, Constant; Apuzzo, Matt; Gebrekidan, Selam (2022-05-20). "The Root of Haiti's Misery: Reparations to Enslavers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  2. ^ McLellan, James May (2010). Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue and the Old Regime (reprint ed.). University of Chicago Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-226-51467-3. from the original on 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2010-11-22. [...] French Saint Domingue at its height in the 1780s had become the single richest and most productive colony in the world.
  3. ^ a b c Alcenat, Westenley. "The Case for Haitian Reparations". Jacobin. from the original on 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  4. ^ "Milestones: 1784–1800 - Office of the Historian". United States Department of State. from the original on 2021-02-20. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  5. ^ a b c Barnes, Joslyn (2010-01-19). "Haiti: The Pearl of the Antilles". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. from the original on 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  6. ^ a b c de Cordoba, Jose (2004-01-02). "Impoverished Haiti Pins Hopes for Future On a Very Old Debt". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. from the original on 2021-03-04. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  7. ^ . Archived from the original on 2010-11-12. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  8. ^ Sommers, Jeffrey. Race, Reality, and Realpolitik: U.S.-Haiti Relations in the Lead Up to the 1915 Occupation. 2015. ISBN 1498509142. Page 124.
  9. ^ Morsolin, Cristiano (2022-03-10). "Repay historic debt to Haiti". CADTM. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  10. ^ . Jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2010-01-20. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  11. ^ . The Times. London. 17 May 2009. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009.
  12. ^ . Jubilee Debt Campaign UK. Archived from the original on 2011-07-02. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
  13. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  14. ^ "Advocacy Our Work". Ijdh.org. from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  15. ^ "Haiti : Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries: Completion Point Document". IMF. from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  16. ^ "109hr888ih" (PDF). Ijdh.org. (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  17. ^ a b "For Haitians' Sake, Drop the "Drop the Debt"". Blogs.cgdev.org. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  18. ^ a b "Haiti: Debt Statistics and IMF support - Background Note". Imf.org. from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  19. ^ "IDB - Haiti and the IDB". Iadb.org. from the original on 9 August 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  20. ^ "World Bank cancels Haiti's debt". AFP. 29 May 2010. from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  21. ^ Wroughton, Lesley (28 May 2010). "World Bank cancels remaining Haiti debt". Reuters. from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  22. ^ "Hollande pledges Haiti investment". BBC News. 2015-05-13. from the original on 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  23. ^ Vilsaint, Fequiere; Hall, Michael R. (January 12, 2012). Historical Dictionary of Haiti. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-5381-2753-7. from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  24. ^ Diversified, AuthorMedia (2015-05-22). "France's refusal to pay Haiti reparations is a symptom of an even wider issue". Media Diversified. from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
  25. ^ . Washington Post. May 13, 2015. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2021-10-04. Retrieved 2021-12-01.

External links edit

  • Haiti: Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries—Completion Point Document
  • Summary of Haiti's debt history at The Root

January 01, 1970
external, debt, haiti, external, debt, haiti, notable, controversial, national, debt, which, mostly, stems, from, outstanding, 1825, compensation, former, slavers, french, colonial, empire, later, 20th, century, corruptions, sticker, port, prince, demanding, r. The external debt of Haiti is a notable and controversial national debt which mostly stems from an outstanding 1825 compensation to former slavers of the French colonial empire and later 20th century corruptions Sticker in Port au Prince demanding repayment from the French government The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Europe allowed rebel Haitian slaves to overpower French colonial rule and gain independence in the 1791 1804 Haitian Revolution The restored French monarchy supported by European monarchies sent the 1825 French expedition to Haiti to demand with military menace massive compensations Haiti had to repay the French government and former slaveholders the modern equivalent of US 105 billion later reduced to US 21 billion for the loss of massively profitable slave plantation assets and revenues This price for independence was financed by French banks and the American Citibank and finally paid off in 1947 Later the corrupt Duvalier dynasty added to the country s debts The Duvaliers are believed to have used the money to expand their power and for their personal enrichment In the early 21st century and especially after the devastating earthquake in 2010 the World Bank and some other governments had planned to forgive the debt Instead remaining parts of Haiti s debt repayments were postponed France forgave a more recent loan with a balance of US 77 million but has refused to consider repaying the independence debt These debts are denounced as the root of contemporary Haiti s poverty and a case of odious debt debt forced upon a population with abusive force In 2022 The New York Times published a dedicated investigative series on that matter 1 Contents 1 List of debt 1 1 Independence debt 1 2 Duvalier debt 2 Debt cancellation efforts 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksList of debt editIndependence debt edit Main article Haiti indemnity controversy Haiti was the richest and most productive European colony in the world going into the 1800s 2 3 Haiti s legacy of debt began shortly after a widespread slave revolt against the French with Haitians gaining their independence from France in 1804 President of the United States Thomas Jefferson fearing that slaves gaining their independence would spread to the United States stopped sending aid that began under his predecessor John Adams and pursued international isolation of Haiti during his tenure 4 France had also pursued a policy that prevented Haiti from participating in trade in the Atlantic 3 This isolation on the international stage made Haiti desperate for economic relief 5 France with warships at the ready sailed to Haiti in 1825 and demanded Haiti to compensate France for its loss of slaves and its slave colony 6 7 In exchange for French recognition of Haiti as a sovereign republic France demanded payment of 150 million francs 6 In addition to the payment France required that Haiti provide a fifty percent discount on its exported goods to them making repayment more difficult 5 In 1838 France agreed to reduce the debt to 90 million francs to be paid over a period of 30 years to compensate former plantation owners who had lost their property the 2004 equivalent of US 21 billion 6 5 8 Historians have traced loan documents from the time of the 1825 Ordinance through the various refinancing efforts to the final remittance to National City Bank now Citibank in 1947 3 Duvalier debt edit From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was ruled by the corrupt and oppressive Duvalier family Loans incurred during this period alone were estimated to account for approximately 40 of Haiti s debt in 2000 before debt relief was granted These funds were used to strengthen the Duvaliers control over Haiti and for various fraudulent schemes Large amounts were simply stolen by the Duvaliers Jean Claude Duvalier who ran the country from 1971 to 1986 was exiled to France after being overthrown and has been charged with theft and misappropriation of funds during his rule 9 Debt cancellation efforts editHaiti had a total external debt of 2 1 billion at its peak when 10 11 dubious discuss Jubilee USA Jubilee Debt Campaign UK 12 and others called for the immediate cancellation of Haiti s debt to multilateral institutions including the World Bank International Monetary Fund IMF and the Inter American Development Bank based on the argument that this debt is unjust under a legal term called odious debt and that Haiti could better use the funds going toward debt service for education health care and basic infrastructure 13 Several organizations in the U S issued action alerts around the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution and a Congressional letter to the U S Treasury 14 including Jubilee USA the Institute for Justice amp Democracy in Haiti and Pax Christi USA Between 2006 and 2009 Haiti was added to the World Bank and IMF s highly indebted poor country initiative HIPC 15 The Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution 16 had 66 co sponsors in the U S House of Representatives as of February 2008 In September 2009 following a program of economic and social reforms Haiti met the requirements for completion of the HIPC program qualifying it for cancellation of its external debt obligations This cut the face value of the debt by 757 million 17 and future debt service including interest by 1 2 billion 18 Haiti s largest creditor the Inter American Development Bank IDB was part of the debt relief initiative but the initiative only canceled loans made before 2005 and the IDB had lent more since Haiti s debt to the IDB amounts to approximately half a billion dollars with debt service payments projected by the IMF to increase in the following years The U S government has been paying this debt service on Haiti s behalf since before the quake 19 Following the devastating effects of the early 2010 earthquake in Haiti there came renewed calls for a further debt cancellation from civil society groups In light of the tragedy and new borrowing that lifted Haiti s debts back to 1 25 billion groups such as the Jubilee Debt Campaign called for this debt to be dropped Furthermore during the aftermath emergency money was offered to the Haitian government from the IMF in the form of loans Civil society groups protested the offer of loans and not grants for such an already heavily indebted country trying to cope with such destruction Some have argued however that because Haiti s annual debt service payments are so low 9 million a year net of the debt service paid on Haiti s behalf by the U S government canceling the debt would do little to help the country recover from the earthquake and should not be a priority for activism 17 Agence France Press reported on 26 January 2010 that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said that Petrocaribe Venezuela s cut rate regional energy alliance will forgive Haiti s debt Haiti s debt with Venezuela is 295 million about one quarter of its foreign debt of 1 25 billion according to International Monetary Fund figures 18 On 28 May 2010 the World Bank announced it had waived Haiti s remaining debts to the bank 20 The value of the waiver was 36 million 21 In 2015 France forgave about US 77 million 96 8 million in 2023 in modern day debt unrelated to independence 22 In 2004 the Haitian government demanded that France repay Haiti for the millions of dollars paid between 1825 and 1947 as compensation for the property loss of French slaveholders and landowners as a result of the slaves freedom 23 In 2015 the French government rejected this demand as well as any reparations in general 24 25 See also editOdious debt Debt of developing countriesReferences edit Porter Catherine Meheut Constant Apuzzo Matt Gebrekidan Selam 2022 05 20 The Root of Haiti s Misery Reparations to Enslavers The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2022 05 27 McLellan James May 2010 Colonialism and Science Saint Domingue and the Old Regime reprint ed University of Chicago Press p 63 ISBN 978 0 226 51467 3 Archived from the original on 2013 06 05 Retrieved 2010 11 22 French Saint Domingue at its height in the 1780s had become the single richest and most productive colony in the world a b c Alcenat Westenley The Case for Haitian Reparations Jacobin Archived from the original on 2021 02 26 Retrieved 2021 02 20 Milestones 1784 1800 Office of the Historian United States Department of State Archived from the original on 2021 02 20 Retrieved 2021 02 20 a b c Barnes Joslyn 2010 01 19 Haiti The Pearl of the Antilles The Nation ISSN 0027 8378 Archived from the original on 2021 06 03 Retrieved 2021 02 20 a b c de Cordoba Jose 2004 01 02 Impoverished Haiti Pins Hopes for Future On a Very Old Debt The Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Archived from the original on 2021 03 04 Retrieved 2021 02 20 Odious Debts Impoverished Haiti pins hopes for future on a very old debt Archived from the original on 2010 11 12 Retrieved 2011 03 08 Sommers Jeffrey Race Reality and Realpolitik U S Haiti Relations in the Lead Up to the 1915 Occupation 2015 ISBN 1498509142 Page 124 Morsolin Cristiano 2022 03 10 Repay historic debt to Haiti CADTM Retrieved 2022 03 10 Jubilee Debt Campaign UK Country information Haiti Jubileedebtcampaign org uk Archived from the original on 2010 01 20 Retrieved 3 October 2017 Haiti the land where children eat mud The Times London 17 May 2009 Archived from the original on 20 May 2009 Jubilee Debt Campaign UK Jubilee Debt Campaign UK Archived from the original on 2011 07 02 Retrieved 2010 01 24 Jubilee USA Network take action haiti06 HTML Archived from the original on 2007 02 08 Retrieved 2018 09 17 Advocacy Our Work Ijdh org Archived from the original on 19 March 2020 Retrieved 3 October 2017 Haiti Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Completion Point Document IMF Archived from the original on 2017 12 22 Retrieved 2017 12 19 109hr888ih PDF Ijdh org Archived PDF from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 3 October 2017 a b For Haitians Sake Drop the Drop the Debt Blogs cgdev org Retrieved 3 October 2017 a b Haiti Debt Statistics and IMF support Background Note Imf org Archived from the original on 24 March 2017 Retrieved 3 October 2017 IDB Haiti and the IDB Iadb org Archived from the original on 9 August 2010 Retrieved 3 October 2017 World Bank cancels Haiti s debt AFP 29 May 2010 Archived from the original on 5 June 2010 Retrieved 30 May 2010 Wroughton Lesley 28 May 2010 World Bank cancels remaining Haiti debt Reuters Archived from the original on 30 September 2020 Retrieved 30 May 2010 Hollande pledges Haiti investment BBC News 2015 05 13 Archived from the original on 2018 09 16 Retrieved 2018 07 15 Vilsaint Fequiere Hall Michael R January 12 2012 Historical Dictionary of Haiti Rowman amp Littlefield p 141 ISBN 978 1 5381 2753 7 Archived from the original on December 1 2021 Retrieved December 15 2021 Diversified AuthorMedia 2015 05 22 France s refusal to pay Haiti reparations is a symptom of an even wider issue Media Diversified Archived from the original on 2021 12 01 Retrieved 2021 12 01 Is it time for France to pay its real debt to Haiti Washington Post May 13 2015 ISSN 0190 8286 Archived from the original on 2021 10 04 Retrieved 2021 12 01 External links editHaiti Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Completion Point Document Summary of Haiti s debt history at The Root Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title External debt of Haiti amp oldid 1199150212, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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