Tepid support for US$1b 'doing business in Haiti' fund
Published:Wednesday | March 9, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Sabrina Gordon, Business Reporter
The Haitian government has pledged US$3 million to kick-start a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) fund which the regional private sector will be able to tap for loans for investments in Haiti.
While the broad outlines of the fund have been sketched, its specific operational parameters have not yet been defined.
But according to CARICOM's special representative for Haiti, the former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, the aim is to raise US$1 billion for on-lending to the private sector. Haiti is the only country to have committed funds.
Patterson, however, said that it could be launched with US$100 million. He hopes it can be operational by the second half of this year.
The fund will supplement the US$10 billion the international community has promised Haiti over the next decade for its rebuilding from the January 2010 earthquake that left more than 230,000 dead, many more thousands injured and more than one million Haitians living rough in tent cities.
Patterson disclosed the Haitian government's commitment to the fund Tuesday at a gathering of Jamaican entrepreneurs to pitch Haiti as a market primed for investment.
"From the fund, we can lend to companies up to US$20 million for projects and investments to be used in the development of Haiti," Patterson said.
Byron Blake, Patterson's economic advisor on his Haiti project, said that the operational aspects of the fund are still to be worked out.
But among the current suggestion that it might be managed by the Caribbean Development Bank or some similar organisation - the idea of a private-fund manager is also an option, said Blake, a former deputy secretary general of CARICOM.
Haiti apart, no CARICOM state has a yet said what they will contribute to the fund, although it has received full endorsement from the leaders, including at the last summit in Grenada a week ago.
Financing essential
However, Patterson has been canvassing international donors, multilateral funding agencies and even private interests. Additionally, at a recent CARICOM-Japan meeting, the idea of contributing to the fund was also floated to the Japanese Bank for International Co-operation, which is to make a decision.
"Financing is essential," Patterson said at the Kingston forum organised by the auditing and consulting firm, Pricewater-houseCoopers, and Jamaica Air Services, a domestic airline that recently started service to Haiti.
According to Patterson, among the priority areas identified for investment in Haiti are agriculture, manufacturing of textile and garments, construction, education and transportation.
"There is space to be developed and exploited, (there is) much to be done and we are encouraging the private sector to participate," he said.