Weekly Report - 23 October 2008 (ISSN 1741-7422)

HAITI | GDP growth. Finance minister Daniel Dorsainvil predicted this week that Haiti would post 1.5% growth in 2008. This is more upbeat than estimates of zero growth made in the wake of the hurricanes in August and September. However, with demographic growth of 2%, Haiti needs to grow at about 5% a year if it is to reduce poverty levels. The president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, paid a three-day visit to Haiti this week, shortly after announcing US$25m of emergency aid. The purpose of the visit was to raise awareness of Haiti's plight and encourage international donations not just to address the food crisis but also infrastructure investment and long-term development plans. “We need to work to protect valuable development gains, especially for those disrupted by natural disasters, and the food, fuel and finance crisis, which are threatening not just to knock the poorest people down, but to hold them down," Zoellick said before meeting President René Préval and visiting devastated areas, like the city of Gonaí¯ves. Zoellick's words sounded like a response to Préval's stark warning days earlier that, without assistance, Haiti would end up as “a base for terrorism or a hub for drug-trafficking to international markets" [WR-08-41].

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