Economic relations

Because of the country’s limited economic development, trade relations with Haiti have traditionally been modest. Except for a few major groups (Air France, Total), France’s presence has been reduced for the past decade. French exports had dropped significantly since the embargo imposed on Haiti. With the stabilization of the political situation and more focused macroeconomic indicators, bilateral trade has picked up a little, with a total volume of nearly €30M in 2008. The many development projects are expected to enable French companies to get a foothold in Haiti again.

French exports, which had picked up in 2005 and 2006, fell in 2007 (-34.4% compared with 2006), to pick up again in 2008, but without reaching the 2006 level (growth of +6%). Imports have grown slightly since 2003, but remain very weak (less than €10M annually). They posted growth of 16% in 2008 compared with 2007.

In 2008, five product families exported by France posted totals of more than €1M: electric motors, generators and transformers (€2.5M), vehicles (€1.6M), perfume and grooming products (€1.3M), other various special purpose machines (€1.1M), and milk and dairy products (€1.1M). It should be noted that various foodstuffs, as well as wine and champagne, have each reached nearly €1M.

As in previous years, in 2008, French imports were composed primarily of oil of vetiver: €7M out of a total of €8.5M (i.e. 82%). Fruit and fruit-based preparations (€0.718M) and rum (€0.279M) follow.

After a moratorium, in 2009, France got involved in a process to cancel the bilateral debt, in particular in terms of the announcement of a debt relief/development contract (C2D) totalling €54M over several years.

Updated on 15.01.10