And as throngs of anxious Haitians jostled for bags
of rice being tossed from the back of a U.N. truck, women at a market
struggled to find buyers for their overflowing sacks of fruits, grains
and vegetables.
earthquake pulverized concrete and twisted metal, but it also distorted
the nation’s economy, as it wiped out thousands of jobs and sparked a
rush on humanitarian aid.
Now, as Haitians still dig for their dead and the
government struggles to reorganize, the business community is trying to
figure out how to jump-start the economy amid a historic opportunity to
reshape the nation.
No one knows the exact economic toll of the
earthquake that is thought to have killed 170,000 and left 1 million
homeless. But economists speculate that it wiped out at least half of
the nation’s gross domestic product, or about
In downtown
“Downtown was the lung and heart of the economy of
In the days after the earthquake, many businesses
saw their stores looted or merchandise lost to fires, he said. Even
worse, the administration has failed to articulate a recovery plan.
“We have no idea yet what the government’s plans are
for downtown,” said Boulos, who lost an auto dealership and grocery
stores to the earthquake. “Not knowing where we are going may be as bad
as what happened that day.”
Wearing jeans and blue
sneakers without laces, Boulos was preparing to host some of the
nation’s top business leaders at his home to try to begin sketching out
a recovery plan. Among the ideas are bulldozing downtown
“We have to decentralize,” he said. “This catastrophe is an opportunity to create the new
Already the poorest nation in the hemisphere, 80
percent of the population toils under the poverty line. Unemployment
before the quake was thought to be as high as 70 percent and
But things had been looking up for the country of 9
million. Kidnappings, which had scared away tourists and investors,
were dramatically down. Garment exports were booming under a new trade
pact. Inflation was under control.
“I really thought this was going to be
which runs the nation’s biggest bottling plant and brews the country’s
only beer, Prestige. “We were so gung-ho. Tourists were coming back,
life was picking up. Now, it’s like we crashed and burned.”
The quake disrupted the plant’s water, milk and beer
production lines. Of its 1,450 employees, only about a third have been
put back to work. With a little luck, the company hopes to have its
factory running at full speed again within two months, she said.
As global aid agencies continue to flood the seaport and airport with food and water, it would be easy to believe that
had lost the ability to feed itself. While the nation does import food,
about 66 percent of workers are involved in agriculture. And unlike the
hurricanes that wiped out crops, the earthquake left farms virtually
untouched.
“There are goods and services that are being produced locally, but Haitians don’t have the money to buy them,” explained
UNDP has started a work-for-cash program, which
hopes to inject money into the economy by hiring up to 220,000 people
to clear rubble. But
“None of these Haitian companies have been used so
far to produce things that the international community could have
purchased here locally,” he said.
Some also fear that the influx of rice, oil and other staples could undercut local farmers.
is sensitive to those concerns and said the rice distribution effort is
designed to cover about half the caloric needs of the targeted
population.
“We fully expect people to supplement what we give
them with other produce,” he said. “But we are aware that there may
also be an associated drop in food prices with this large scale
distribution. But that will help the people that have been worst
affected by the earthquake.”
Prices may still drop, but a recent stroll through a
local market suggested they haven’t yet. Vendors said the prices of
oil, beans, rice, bread and noodles were increasing, and the price of
goods imported from neighboring
“Prices are up at least 30 percent,” said Cherlange
Rosius, who buys food wholesale and distributes it to local vendors.
And a roll of Dominican salami that cost
Responding to the influx of journalists and aid workers, the service sector has also jacked up prices:
The massive inflow of aid dollars has also caused
the local currency to spike about 25 percent. It has since retreated,
but an overpriced gourde could strangle Haitian exports, which may
emerge as one of the bright spots in the post-earthquake economy.
There will be other bright spots, too. Much of the
city needs to be razed and rebuilt, which already has local and foreign
companies jockeying for contracts, and scrap and cement-recycling
companies are eyeing the mountains of rubble the earthquake generated.
—
(c) 2010, The Miami Herald.
Visit
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
