Debt cancellation and further lending won’t save Haiti

In a 2005 article for BBC News, renowned Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda debunked the myth that debt cancellation and further economic aid had helped improve his country’s predicament.  Far from  delivering progress, this actually perpetuated the status quo of Uganda defaulting on debt, receiving more money, then defaulting again.

Sadly, such a scenario may repeat itself with the IMF’s latest decision to cancel Haiti’s $268 million worth of debt whilst lending the country a further $60 million.  In addition to this, international donors have pledged around $9.9 billion for Haiti’s reconstruction.  As an earlier report by the National Academy of Public Administration makes clear, such top-down aid programmes have in the past been either very poorly implemented on the creditor’s behalf or squandered by the Haitian government which has hitherto not shown much concern for fostering liberal institutions.  With this in mind, it is very much in question whether these financial pledges will end up being spent wisely.