The Senator Jocelerme Privert, President of the Senate Committee on Economy and Finance is concerned about the oil debt of Haiti of $938 million, as part of the program Petrocaribe. Recalling that under the terms of the agreement of this program signed between Haiti and Venezuela the funds must be invested in profitable projects that stimulate the economic and social development, doubting that some construction work such as the expansion of several airports including that of the île-à-Vache can generate sufficient revenues to meet the debt.

Responding to the criticisms of Senator Privert, Marie Carmelle Jean Marie, Minister of Economy recalled that since the program's inception [in 2007], Haiti had received so far, 1 billion 363 million dollars, of this program (whose 395 million were canceled in June 2010 by the Government of Venezuela) and that 75% of amounts disbursed, have been invested in the road infrastructure sector by the administrations Préval and Martelly. Deploring these criticisms, the Minister held to stress that Petrocaribe funds, are voted by the parliamentarians in the budget and all projects are approved by the Board of Directors of the Office of Monetization and the Council of Ministers responsible for managing the fund.

By comparison, Venezuela is the largest creditor of the Dominican Republic, which, under the Petrocaribe agreement, accumulated an oil debt of more than 3.5 billion.

Learn more about the functioning of PetroCaribe :

Recall that the Bureau of Monetization plays the role of intermediary between the provider Venezuelan PDVSA Petroleo SA and the local oil companies in Haiti. The nomination of volumes and ship, billing and collections are made through the Office of Monetization. Oil companies in Haiti, are paying the State 100% of the FOB value of the cargo. According to the price of a barrel on the international market, the Haitian Government transfer 40% to 70% of the amounts collected, to the PDVSA Petroleo SA. The remaining, 60% to 30% must be paid by Haiti, over 25 years to an annual interest rate of 1% after a grace period of 2 years.

HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre