Haiti - FLASH : Cancellation of customs exemptions
Wednesday as part of President Moïse's desire to protect the interests of the State and of the people and to stand out from the old practices of favoritism that strengthened the control of a small group on the country's economy, several measures of rapid recovery of the economy were adopted by the Council of Ministers with a view to establishing more justice and social equity between economic actors.
The cancellation of all customs exemptions (except those provided for by law) is one of the provisions adopted which, according to the Government, "contribute to better protection of domestic production, promoting competitiveness" across the sectors concerned.
Too many franchises that Senator Youri Latortue, President of the Commission "Ethics and anti corruption" had denounced in March 2018 hhttps://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23836-icihaiti-economy-more-than-10-billion-gourdes-of-customs-deductibles.html , concerned about the loss of tax revenues of the Government that it estimated at a little more than 10 billion Gourdes, affirming that 40% of the imports benefitted from such franchises...
Note that this is not a new measure, Moïse had already announced it February 5 last https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26855-haiti-flash-jovenel-moise-declares-the-state-of-economic-emergency-in-the-country.html and before him, the former Minister of Economy and Finance Ronald Décembre, had also announced the cancellation of customs exemptions for public institutions and the reduction of exemptions for NGOs included in the 2018-2019 budget (Franchises granted to companies in the outsourcing sector, humanitarian NGOs and diplomatic missions were maintained).
