Overview: About 85% of the population live in abject poverty. Agriculture is mainly small-scale subsistence farming and employs two-thirds of the work force. The majority of the population does not have ready access to safe drinking water, adequate medical care, or sufficient food. Few social assistance programs exist, and the lack of employment opportunities remains one of the most critical problems facing the economy, along with soil erosion and political instability.

GDP: $2.7 billion, per capita $440; real growth rate - 3.0% (1990 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 20% (1990 est.)

Unemployment rate: 25-50% (1990 est.)

Budget: revenues $300 million; expenditures $416 million, including capital expenditures of $145 million (1990 est.)

Exports: $169 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.); commodities--light manufactures 69%, coffee 19%, other agriculture 8%, other 8%; partners--US 84%, Italy 4%, France 3%, other industrial 6%, less developed countries 3% (1987)

Imports: $348 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.); commodities--machines and manufactures 34%, food and beverages 22%, petroleum products 14%, chemicals 10%, fats and oils 9%; partners--US 64%, Netherlands Antilles 5%, Japan 5%, France 4%, Canada 3%, Germany 3% (1987)

External debt: $838 million (December 1990)

Industrial production: growth rate 0.3% (FY88); accounts for 15% of GDP

Electricity: 230,000 kW capacity; 264 million kWh produced, 43 kWh per capita (1990)

Industries: sugar refining, textiles, flour milling, cement manufacturing, tourism, light assembly industries based on imported parts

Agriculture: accounts for 33% of GDP and employs 66% of work force; mostly small-scale subsistence farms; commercial crops--coffee, mangoes, sugarcane and wood; staple crops--rice, corn, sorghum; shortage of wheat flour

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for cocaine

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $700 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $682 million

Currency: gourde (plural--gourdes); 1 gourde (G) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: gourdes (G) per US$1-- 5.0 (fixed rate)

Fiscal year: 1 October-30 September

NOTE: The information regarding Haiti on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Haiti Economy 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Haiti Economy 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.