Better Spending, Better Services : A Review of Public Finances in Haiti, Overview
The images of flattened buildings and tent cities that dominated the news following the Haitian earthquake of January 12, 2010 triggered an emergency response from the global aid and development community. Foreign governments, multilateral organiza...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/06/26527828/better-spending-better-services-review-public-finances-haiti-vol-2 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24690 |
| Summary: | The images of flattened buildings and
tent cities that dominated the news following the Haitian
earthquake of January 12, 2010 triggered an emergency
response from the global aid and development community.
Foreign governments, multilateral organizations including
the World Bank, and NGOs dramatically increased the flow of
funding to the devastated country. The money helped pay for
emergency relief but also for higher public investment
spending that sought to repair damage and press ahead with
development projects that had begun before the disaster. Six
years later, the flow of aid is declining, and Haiti faces
pivotal challenges: how to adapt to the reductions, raise
more resources internally, spend more efficiently, and
safeguard the fragile social gains it has achieved in a time
of extreme hardship. The infrastructure Haiti has acquired
in the recent surge of investment is something like a newly
built house that lacks furniture and running water, it may
look good from the outside but does little for its
occupants. For the present, life remains a struggle for most
of the country’s 10.4 million people. Thus in addition to
growth, the country needs policies that will foster
inclusiveness. Analysis and past experience suggest that two
factors are key: human capital and political stability. To
achieve this goal, Haiti will require a new outlook favoring
fair, efficient government and social inclusiveness. |
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