On the second day of the 8th International Finance Summit organized by the Group Croissance from 9 to 13 April at the Karibe Convention Center, the Society for Social and Economic Information (SIKSE), represented by Nelson Sylvestre and Jempsy Fils-Aimé, presented the partial results of a census of microfinance institutions in Haiti conducted between 2016 and 2017.

About 67 microfinance institutions, including 55 mutual funds, are supervised by the Central Bank (BRH).

37% of all these institutions operate in rural areas.

In 2017, the active amount of the entire portfolio of cooperatives is 23 billion Gourdes, 24% increase compared to 2016.

Jene C Thomas, Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID - Haiti) presented the Agency's contribution to the microfinance sector in Haiti. According to him, it is an approach focused on financial investment claiming "Today 1 million Haitians have access to microfinance but we will not stop there". He promises the implementation of 3 projects to support the financial inclusion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including agricultural enterprises.

Evens Jérôme, the Director of the General Inspectorate of Cooperatives and of the General Inspectorate of the Caisses Populaires (DGICP), spoke on the sub-theme Caisse populaire and financement agricole. In his presentation he indicated the reasons for the reluctance of the savings and credit unions to finance agriculture among others : the vulnerability of the sector, climate hazards lack of insurance... According to him, it is necessary to train farmers and set up a fund to support them. Having a guarantee fund for a larger number of agricultural institutions and, most importantly, a support for the state of development of the agricultural sector.

Economist Kesner Pharell, CEO of the Group Growth, described the landscape of Haitian microfinance, pointing out that the poorest departments are those who benefit the least from domestic investments and also of the contributions of financial companies "It is abnormal that in the 144 billion gourdes of the national budget, 85 billion are concentrated in the department of the West while the Northeast is the poorest department receives less than one billion gourde !"

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24068-haiti-economy-haitian-agriculture-is-in-decline-dixit-senator-lambert.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24059-haiti-economy-8th-international-finance-summit.html

HL/ HaitiLiIbre