Economy of Haiti
Deforestation of the trees in Haiti during colonization has damaged the environment and ecosystem of the island, resulting in flooding problems, which harm the agriculture sector in Haiti. Moreover, since the earthquake in 2010, Haiti is known as The Republic of NGOs and has the largest amount of Non-Profit Organizations per capita in the world. These non-profit organizations have attempted to aid Haiti by providing food and shelter to Haitians, however Haiti does not have the proper infrastructure to be immune to the natural disasters, hurricanes, and earthquake and these aids do not have a good long term impact on Haiti’s economy. According to Forbes, the average income in Haiti is 350 dollars a year, and the data from the The World Bank shows that the GDP of Haiti has doubled since 2000.
Although GDP of Haiti has been rising since past two decade, this might be due to the money sent from relatives residing overseas to their family members in Haiti. Cash is used in the majority of daily transactions and purchases in Haiti. The news media Al Jazeera explains the concept of remittances in Haiti and the financial help of the relatives to help their family members survive. Moreover, Haiti has suffered from a lack of stable government since gaining its independence. After the revolution, the rulers used dictatorship to implement the plantation system in Haiti and tried to force its people to keep working on the farms. In the modern era, many Haitian presidents have been assassinated. Corruption in the Haitian government leads to a high unemployment rate since most of the people do not have formal jobs. Despite the high unemployment in Haiti, there are agricultural products are being exported to countries such as the Bahamas and the next section highlights some of the major trade agreements between the two countries.