Looking Ahead:
Haiti/Determined to Improve

Creating opportunity is a challenge in Haiti—a desperately poor country, where almost 80 percent of the people live on less than $2 a day. But now may be the best time. It could be at a turning point.

Governance, security, and international support have all improved. The new U.N. envoy, ex-U.S. President Bill Clinton, says Haiti now has a better chance of escaping “the darker aspects of its history” than it has ever seen. The World Bank and IMF have also canceled $1.2 billion of government debt, opening the way to a fresh start. IFC has had an offi ce in Haiti for more than a year, part of our renewed focus on the world’s poorest countries. As part of the World Bank Group’s new three-year Country Assistance Strategy, we are working with the government and investors in high-priority sectors such as infrastructure and SME development.

Only 25 percent of Haiti has electricity today, and even the best-served area, Port-au-Prince, often sees daily blackouts. But with our financing, the country will soon commission its fi rst major independent power project, the 30-megawatt E-Power plant that will generate power more efficiently than the national utility can do itself. The project could not have happened without the $16 million we lent and the $14 million we attracted from our Dutch partner FMO, say the sponsors.

And while microfinance is readily available, the critical SME tier of the economy is typically cut off from capital. But we are a new shareholder in the country’s leading financial institution, Sogebank, and helping it become the sector’s first mover in SME finance, aiming to build a profitable $15 million portfolio to fuel job creation growth in the coming years. In many cases the loans will be supported by our Business Edge management training products.